Shippers Concerned About P3 Impacts

Shippers are concerned about the container alliance's ability to limit capacity

Shippers are concerned that the P3 Alliance of Maersk Line, CMA CGM, and MSC could end up hurting competition and pushing their costs up, Chris Welsh, secretary general of the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), told industry news site ShippingWatch.

Citing a recent meeting with a shipper, Welsh said companies that work with the container carrier lines do not yet know how the alliance could affect their contracts.

"They don't know which routes will be affected, which services, and they're about to start renegotiating their contracts now," he said.

"And of course they'll do this on the basis of what they know now.

"If you include the fact that the companies have to make decisions relating to production and market distribution of products and they don't know all the details about the Alliance, then it's only natural that they, and many others, are questioning the kind of influence P3 will have."

Welsh said GSF does not object to the carriers' plans to share vessel space on principle, but the group is concerned about limitations it may place on capacity.

"We're concerned about the open nature of this agreement, about whether this agreement will make the parties limit the capacity, the opportunity for the partners to agree on future investments, share information concerning investments, and the carriers' ability to agree on slot prices," he said.

After a meeting of regulators from the U.S., the European Union (EU), and China last month, Maersk Line said it expects the alliance to launch in mid-2014.