zoomImage Courtesy: MSC

The members of the 2M Alliance, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Maersk Line, will be launching two new services to South America at the end of September.

The move follows European Union demands concerning Maersk’s takeover of the Hamburg Süd shipping line.

Specifically, following the takeover, the EU demanded that Hamburg Süd ends its vessel sharing agreement with MSC on South American and other routes. Consequently, on 27 September, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd will launch a new service to South America with a fleet of nine vessels.

A day later, Maersk and Hamburg Süd will launch a service operated by eight vessels, each with a capacity of 10,500 TEU.

The port of Rotterdam will be the first port of call in Europe in both sailing schedules.

With the MSC-HL alliance, the voyage from Pecem in Brazil will take twelve days. From Rotterdam, the vessels will sail to London, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Antwerp, Le Havre and the Portuguese port of Sines before crossing the Atlantic. In South America, they will call at Rio Sepetiba, Santos, Navegantes, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio Grande, Paranaguá and Salvador.

As reported earlier, to meet the demands from the EU aimed at ensuring cabotage competition, Maersk Line is selling its Mercosul division to CMA CGM.

The Mercosul transaction is subject to Brazilian regulatory approval and the closing of Maersk’s Hamburg Süd acquisition. At the earliest, the integration of Mercosul within CMA CGM will start at the same time as the Hamburg Süd integration, which is expected in Q4 2017.

Regulatory bodies of China, Korea, Brazil, Chile and South Africa are still to clear Maersk Line’s acquisition of German counterpart, Maersk Line said earlier this month.

Danish shipping company added it has so far obtained approvals from 12 jurisdictions for the USD 4 billion-deal, out of 23 sought.