2M Cleared for Middle East-US Deployment

The vessel sharing alliance between Maersk Line, part of Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk, and Swiss firm Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has secured clearance from the United States Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to expand its services on U.S. trade lanes connecting to Israel, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

The approval follows the expiration of a 45-day review on Thursday without FMC action, marking the clearance of the deal.

“This amendment added no new substantive authority beyond that already contained in the agreement, and is not likely to result in a significant reduction in competition,” William Doyle, Commissioner of the FMC, is quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

The world’s largest container shipper signed a 10 year Vessel Sharing Agreement with MSC (VSA) on the Asia-Europe, Transatlantic and Transpacific trades in July, 2014.

The VSA, commonly known as 2M, is expected to include 185 vessels with an estimated capacity of 2.1 million TEU, deployed on 21 strings.

World Maritime News Staff