There is some uncertainty and nervousness over effects of the P3 alliance on US East Coast ports, with many awaiting the Federal Maritime Commission’s ruling, the introduction of the service and the reaction from competitors such as the G6.
Says Baltimore: "MSC is our top container customer and a longtime business partner. We are certainly hoping that with the P3 Alliance, it will open the doors toward greater opportunities that maybe did not exist for us before."
Paul Bingham, economics practice leader at CDM Smith, reckons it will stir the industry. “The startup of the P3 alliance is perhaps a milestone in the stepwise consolidation of the liner industry. The joint control of vessel capacity and services representing so much market share increases pressure on competitors to also align themselves to constrain deployed capacity and benefit from higher rates potentially achieved.
“The P3 Alliance is also going to bring more market power to future negotiations between steamship lines and the terminal operating companies and port authorities as the lines will be able to affect individual port market shares more easily," he says.
