Maersk to Cooperate on East-West Trades with MSC

Maersk Line has announced a 10 year Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA) with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) on the Asia-Europe, Transatlantic and Transpacific trades. The VSA will be referred to as 2M. It replaces all existing VSAs and slot purchase agreements that Maersk Line has in these trades.

The VSA will include 185 vessels with an estimated capacity of 2.1 million TEU, deployed on 21 strings. The overall purpose of the cooperation is to share infrastructure (network). Maersk Line and MSC will be able to provide their customers with more stable and frequent services, cover more ports with direct services. The VSA will improve the efficiency of the Maersk Line and MSC networks through better utilisation of vessel capacity and economies of scale.

“I am very pleased with our agreement with MSC. We share the same ambition to have as efficient and effective operations as possible. We will continue to provide our customers with competitive and reliable container shipping in the East-West trades at attractive prices. To do so we have to be innovative and take out cost, while keeping a product that is best in class for our customers in terms of coverage, frequency and reliability. Our agreement with MSC is a step towards achieving all of these objectives in the East-West trades,” says Søren Skou, Maersk Line CEO.

Maersk Group CEO Nils S. Andersen welcomes the agreement with MSC. “Over the last years, Maersk Line has established itself as a leader in the industry through its customer focus and by improving its competitive cost position.  With this agreement Maersk Line will be able to further enhance its customer offering while also reducing costs and CO2 emissions. I am confident that Maersk Line’s leadership, also after this positive step, will continue to find new
ways to strengthen its competitive advantage and customer experience” says Nils S. Andersen.