The new Ocean Alliance and THE Alliance are about to operate. Although 2M is an "old alliance", due to the cooperation agreement signed with Hyundai Merchant Marine and Hamburg Süd, many adjustments have been made to its routes.

Many shippers are worried that this transition from old to new will have a bad impact on their supply chain.

The new alliance is about to start operations on April 1, but due to the sheer number of ports covered by its vessel sharing agreements (VSAs), there could be confusion between the old and the new.

“ The new VSA brings huge structural changes, and carriers will have to redeploy their ships, which will cause chaos ,” said Ken Sine, vice president of global ocean freight at Crane Worldwide Logistics.

Sunny Ho, executive chairman of the Hong Kong Shippers Council, agrees that the main threat to shippers is capacity management and manipulation by carriers .

"The top four carriers hold 47.7 percent of the capacity, and the other carriers are too small to compete," he told delegates at the Asia Intermodal Conference in Shanghai. Diversity issues, such as ports of call, route routes, route network, frequency of voyages, etc.”

Chris Welsh, secretary general of the Global Shippers Council, said shippers were not part of the discussions as carriers worked out the new market structure.

" Carriers are offering almost the same price and service, less choice for shippers and less competition in the market, and we're very concerned about that ."

Alan Murphy, chief executive of SeaIntel, said it is difficult for carriers to avoid the confusion generated during the transition from the old to the new.

"There are three alliances that need to be reconfigured, two of which are completely new combinations, and there are many routes that need to be adjusted, which may take weeks to complete."

" Until carriers are familiar with their new networks and new routes, it may be less efficient ," Alan said.

Ken Sine warns shippers that maintaining a diverse carrier selection is critical and that shippers and consignees need to fully understand the new alliance.

"When contracting with a carrier, you should avoid separate sourcing, if an NVOCC offers you a great price, but he doesn't tell you that their service providers are Maersk and MSC, then you only have a single source of service , it will be impossible to carry out risk management and control.”

" The most important thing we learned from the Hanjin incident is risk management , know the service you are using, and know all the aspects of the alliance you are working with, know what you are signing. But you don't just have to know and The carrier you contract, you also need to know his alliance partner .”

In addition to shippers, the U.S. Department of Justice also expressed concerns about the new alliance. It once issued a statement expressing concern about the approval of the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) for the operation of the new alliance. One of the reasons, but the current US Department of Justice refuses to respond to this.

Do you have any similar concerns about the operation of the new alliance? You are welcome to express your views.