Officials from China, Europe, US review planned container alliance

Maritime officials from China, the United States and the European Commission held their first joint meeting on Tuesday in Washington to review the proposed P3 Network, a pooling arrangement among the world's three largest operators of container vessels.

Denmark-based A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, Mediterranean Shipping Co SA of Switzerland and French carrier CMA CGM SA agreed in June to establish the long-term operational alliance on East-West routes to optimize resources and lower the cost of container shipping.

The alliance will operate total capacity of 2.6 million 20-foot equivalent units, initially using 252 large-capacity vessels on 28 loops on three trade lanes: Asia-Europe, trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic.