CP Ships and its partners in the Grand Alliance have reached agreement with Cosco, K Line and Yang Ming to form the Atlantic Space Charter Agreement. As a result of the agreement, which is subject to regulatory review both in the U.S. and EU, one weekly string of five ships with 2,000-teu capacity will be withdrawn by Cosco, K Line and Yang Ming; the agreement is expected to be activated sometime during the second quarter.
CP Ships is represented in the agreement by its Lykes Lines and
TMM Lines brands. Since October 2000 it has been operating five joint weekly services in the US East Coast/Gulf-North Europe trades with the Grand Alliance.