Three's company

摘要

The late February announcement that Maersk Line, MSC and CMA CGM -respectively numbers one, two and three on the basis of slots deployed in the liner industry - were to co-operate in the transpacific trade was greeted with utter surprise. After all, the three are intensely competitive towards one another and in the case of Maersk and MSC generally prefer the flexibility of running their operations on a stand-alone basis. Of course when it comes to selling and marketing the services, this will remain, staunchly, the case. Moreover, it should be stressed that the pact is highly limited in its scope, covering just three service strings (15 ships) and with a relatively heavy focus on the 'smaller' northern China trading sector.