News / Ocean and Premier alliances plan jointly operated transatlantic networks

Global Container Terminal in Bayonne, New Jersey

Following yesterday’s announcement from Japanese container line ONE that it is to participate in three transatlantic services with Ocean Alliance carriers, there was further confirmation today that next year will see the Ocean and Premier alliances jointly operating transatlantic networks.

According to analysts at liner database eeSea, the network rejigs represent a reform of the current transatlantic services operated as THE Alliance, which is set to be replaced by the Premier Alliance at the beginning of February.

The AL5 – set to be a transatlantic service focused on the southern US, the Caribbean and with a Panama Canal transit, followed by calls on the US west coast – is “presently a segment of THE Alliance, but will operate without its alliance partners. According to early signals, HMM and OOCL will join ONE, marketing this service as HMM TA1 and OOCL ATW, respectively”.

The major change to the service will be the omission of Canada  from the pro forma schedule, with two Halifax calls and one call at St John dropped; a call at Port Everglades dropped in favour of Miami and no second call at Cartagena.

Meanwhile, an advisory from CMA CGM said the French carrier would also be deploying tonnage on the service, meaning that at least two of the Ocean Allaince carriers would be operating tonnage on the ex-THE Alliance service from next year.

Meanwhile, eeSea analysts also confirmed that ONE will join the OCEAN Alliance’s TAT2 transatlantic string, which will see calls at Savannah and Charleston replaced by Baltimore in 2025. CMA CGM notes that the service will call at its terminals in New York, and will also include a call at the port of Norfolk.

On the TAT2 service, ONE is confirmed to be collaborating with OOCL and CMA CGM, and “the VSA partnership could evolve in the upcoming weeks and may include other members of the Ocean Alliance”.

ONE CEO Jeremy Nixon expects to be working with the other Ocean Alliance carriers on the trade: “We look forward to our new collaboration with CMA CGM, Cosco, OOCL and EMC in the transatlantic trade. Combining our collective fleet deployment and market experience to provide a comprehensive and reliable end-to-end customer service offering across all the key transatlantic market sectors.”

Similarly, with ONE coming on board the TAT3 service, which it will market as the TA3, eeSea analysts expect Le Havre, Charleston and Miami to be dropped from the 2025 rotation, with a headhaul call at Southampton added and Antwerp and Rotterdam to swap their order in the rotation.