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Federal Maritime Commission voices concern about new Ocean Alliance

The creation of the Ocean Alliance – a new container grouping involving China Lines, OOCL, Evergreen, APL and CMA CGM, has hit a speed bump.

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) in the US has made a request for additional information on the alliance make-up, which will delay approval from the US by a likely two months.

Commissioner William Doyle explained: “I pay special attention to competition matters especially to small businesses, downstream participants and the upstream – supplier and vendor markets. We’ve been down this road before with language proposed but not implemented by the P3 Alliance and the language in the existing 2M Alliance. I’d like to see fair dealing and transparency in how the parties handle negotiations with third parties, suppliers, small businesses, and other service providers. Using their proposed buying power through proposed joint purchasing agreements could harm both downstream and upstream participants.”

The delay is unlikely to lead to the planned April 2017 launch date of the Ocean Alliance being pushed back however.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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