Los Angeles, CA – Creation of the giant P3 shipping alliance now rests with Chinese regulators, who, analysts say, are on the verge of sanctioning what would be the most powerful ocean carrier consortium in the world.

Approval by Beijing is the final hurdle standing in the way of the proposed P3 to begin operations as early as this fall.

The P3 would be made up of the three largest container carriers in the world – Denmark’s Maersk Line, MSC of Switzerland and France-based CMA CGM.

The three-line consortium would create a combined fleet of 250 ships operating on a global front that would handle an estimated 43 percent of Asia-to-Europe container shipping, 41 percent of the trans-Atlantic box trade, and almost a full quarter of the container volume in the transpacific market.

The alliance will allow the three giant carriers to cut billions in annual costs by sharing ocean terminals, space on each other’s vessels, and exploiting each container carrier’s geographic strengths to move cargo faster and more economically.

Regulatory agencies in both the US and the European Union have given their approval to the proposed alliance after stating that they wouldn’t pursue any antitrust issues regarding the deal.

The Chinese are expected to announce their approval of the alliance by the end of this month.

06/13/2014