Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd Vessel-Sharing Agreement to Take Effect Amid FMC Concerns
The chair of the Federal Maritime Commission said this week that he continues to have concerns about a new vessel-sharing agreement between major ocean carriers Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd but that the FMC can no longer legally prevent it from taking effect. The agreement officially took effect Sept. 9, the FMC said.
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FMC Chair Daniel Maffei said he has "questions and concerns about whether the Gemini Cooperation Agreement filed with the FMC has, or will, result in anti-competitive consequences that violate the Shipping Act." But "current law does not provide the Commission with any additional time to further evaluate the proposed Agreement and no viable way to stop it from taking effect at this time," he said.
The FMC said it will continue to monitor the agreement to ensure it does not have an anti-competitive impact. Maffei said he has joined his "colleagues in ordering FMC staff to engage in immediate and ongoing rigorous monitoring of the Gemini Cooperation Agreement to ensure that it doesn’t illegally impact U.S. importers, exporters, covered service providers, and consumers."
The agreement, which was unveiled in January and filed with the commission in May, will allow the carriers to share vessels on trade routes between the U.S., Asia, the Middle East and Europe (see 2406070035). The FMC said in July that it would hold up the agreement because it needed more information about the arrangement (see 2407120013).