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