Under the plan, the six shipping companies will offer 31 services on the main East-West trade lanes using their 240 ships, covering more than 75 ports.
With multiple alliances in place, the industry's focus is now on service quality and schedule reliability, said Lee Mong-jye, president of Evergreen Marine Corp (Taiwan) Ltd, a member of the Ocean Alliance.
The Ocean Alliance will continue to work closely with the authorities concerned to ensure full compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and secure the necessary regulatory approvals for the alliance to commence operations from April.
"Unlike other shipping alliances, Ocean Alliance has its nerve center in Hong Kong, which will monitor its operations and collect market information," said Andy Tung, chief executive officer of OOCL.
Rodolphe Saade, vice-chairman of CMA CGM, said member companies of the Ocean Alliance will have an attractive selection of frequent departures and direct calls to meet their supply chain needs, including access to a vast network with the largest number of sailings and port rotations connecting markets in Asia, Europe and the United States.
CMA CGM, a key driver in the alliance, will deploy 35 percent of container ships within the alliance's service network in the initial stage.
The French company will also speed up plans to offer a wider range of services in China because more Chinese companies are keen to move to emerging markets to benefit from booming bilateral trade, preferential trade tariffs and investment opportunities.
Huang Shengqiang, director of the General Administration of Customs' port management office, said the shipping market in China will continue to grow, and one of the most important changes is the composition of its foreign trade.
"Growth in trade with mature markets in the United States and the European Union is modest, while trade with new markets in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative is surging fast," he said.
Eager to further enhance its earnings ability, China COSCO Shipping will continue to diversify its business operations, said Xu Lirong, the group's chairman.
The new moves will likely continue to strengthen its operations from Chinese ports to Europe via the Arctic Northeast Passage by specialized cargo ships. They will also enable digitalization technologies and help develop overseas port facilities such as Piraeus Port in Greece, optimize their resources and create new market growth points, especially in the port service business in overseas markets.
In terms of developing the container shipping business, China COSCO Shipping will raise the operational capacity of TEUs to over 2 million by the end of 2018, to scramble more market share from its three European rivals on East-West and South-North routes.
The Chinese company is considering buying a number of container terminal assets of the troubled Hanjin Shipping Co. It has already agreed to spend $738 million on a new port in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
