SIMIC

THERE has been a shuffling of carriers in and out of cooperative alliances, vessel-sharing agreements and slot exchanges, with new arrangements scheduled to take effect in February, reports New York's FreightWaves.

"MSC basically is going it alone, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are in the Gemini Cooperation after Hapag left THE Alliance, which is now The Premier Alliance of Yang Ming, ONE and Hyundai," said Lars Jensen, CEO of consultant Vespucci Maritime.



"The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is still reviewing the competitive impact of Premier, which pushed back the start of its transpacific services to May."



The Ocean Alliance of Cosco, OOCL, Evergreen and CMA CGM is unchanged said the report.



Said Mr Jensen: "For the alliances - no matter how well-planned out - there will be disruptions. We are talking about 500, 600, 700 vessels that need to change their rotations.



"The FMC review is not really threatening to the Premier Alliance. In practical terms, no major impact," he said.



While a global debate continues over the effects of threatened tariffs under the incoming Trump administration, changes to supply chains are already underway.



Tariffs on China imports levied during the first Trump administration and expanded under President Joe Biden helped put Mexico ahead of China as the United States' top trade partner.



A number of American companies have moved manufacturing south of the border to take advantage of lower labour costs and favourable crossborder facilitation first under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the later the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.



At the same time, China has moved aggressively to nearshore production of US-bound exports to Mexico, building manufacturing facilities and entire industrial parks.