The six member-carriers of the G6 Alliance have agreed to expand their cooperation beyond the Asia-Europe trade to the Asia-North America East Coast trade.
The broader partnership is slated to begin May 2013, with six coordinated services connecting Asian and North America East Coast ports. Three of the services will transit via the Suez Canal, while the remaining three will use the Panama Canal.
The G6 Alliance in a statement said more than 50 ships will be deployed in the trans-Pacific trade, calling at almost 30 ports in Asia, North America East Coast, Canada, Central America, Caribbean, Indian Sub-continent, Mediterranean, and the Middle East.
“Our cooperation in the Asia-to-Europe market has successfully provided customers with comprehensive service coverage as well as operating efficiencies,” the statement added. “This new agreement will bring the same winning formula to the Asia-to-North America East Coast trade and benefit shippers trading in this key trade lane.”
The six coordinated services will provide competitive transit times, broad port coverage, and increased sailing frequency than what is currently offered by both The New World Alliance and the Grand Alliance combined, G6 said.
To form the new trans-Pacific network, several existing services that were offered separately by the two alliances were merged and revised, and a new sling was introduced.
The G6 Alliance was formed a little over a year ago by three members of The New World Alliance (APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine, and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines) and three members of the Grand Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, and Orient Overseas Container Line), creating one of the largest vessel networks on the Asia-Europe trade lane.
Photo courtesy of APL
