Ocean Alliance and ONE Slash Transatlantic Capacity

The transatlantic trade between Europe and North America could be set to see a capacity reduction after the Ocean Alliance and Japanese carrier ONE filed a revised vessel-sharing agreement with the US Federal Maritime Commission.

The redesign of shipping alliance networks that took place this time last year – which saw Hapag-Lloyd depart THE Alliance to form the Gemini Cooperation, and its erstwhile partners ONE, Yang Ming and HMM create the Premier Alliance – ultimately resulted in ONE creating a VSA with Ocean Alliance members CMA CGM, Cosco, OOCL and Evergreen to jointly offer three transatlantic services.

However, according to Alphaliner, the carriers plan to close one of these services.

“The five carriers jointly offer three loops on this trade with 18 vessels, but the new agreement only refers to two loops with 14 ships.

“The current offering includes a North Atlantic service, a South Atlantic service and a Mexico/US Gulf loop. It seems that the carriers are planning to close the South Atlantic loop which serves the US ports of Charleston and Savannah,” Alphaliner writes today.

This service, named Unity Bridge by CMA CGM and AT2 by ONE, deploys five vessels with an average capacity of 6,400 teu and has a port rotation of Le Havre-Antwerp-Bremerhaven-Southampton-Charleston-Savannah. It features Yang Ming as a slot charterer.

Of the three joint OA/ONE transatlantic services, the AT2 has been the one most hit by blanked sailings – two this month and two scheduled for March, according to Xeneta’s eeSea liner database.

However, according to Alphaliner, the closure of the service will be supplemented by ONE adding more tonnage to the AT1 service, known as the Liberty at CMA CGM, on which it charters slots.

“The updated VSA filing mentions that ONE is to provide two ships in the 8,000-12,500 teu size range for the main loop and that the fleet will be extended from six to seven ships. The latter suggests the rotation could be extended to include Charleston and/or Savannah, currently covered by the T2/Unity service,” Alphaliner writes.

The Liberty/AT1 service deploys six vessels of between 8,000 teu and 13,200 teu capacity, on the following port rotation: Southampton-Antwerp-Rotterdam-Bremerhaven-Le Havre-New York-Norfolk-Baltimore.

The service has one blanked sailing this month and one in March, according to eeSea.

Meanwhile, the Victory/AT3 service which runs between North Europe and the US Gulf and Mexico, is expected to remain unchanged, deploying eight ships with an average capacity of 6,300 teu.

Nonetheless, Alphaliner concluded the service changes would mean the carriers cutting weekly transatlantic capacity by 37%.

“The expected combination of the North Atlantic and South Atlantic loops will however reduce the overall allocation for the VSA partners on the North Atlantic (excluding US Gulf) from 16,400 to 10,386 teu per week,” it writes.

Ocean Alliance and ONE’s decision to cut transatlantic capacity signals tighter space conditions in sea freight. This reduction may create pressure on supply chains, potentially influencing freight rates, transit times, and planning strategies across key trade lanes.

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