Although the new carrier alliances will start operating beginning April 2017, battle lines on the main east-west routes are already being drawn, according to a recent report from Alphaliner, a maritime shipping information service.

The OCEAN Alliance and THE Alliance have unveiled their respective service networks which they

plan to start operating next year, when the alliances get under way.

The OCEAN Alliance will start with an initial deployment of 331 ships with a total capacity of 3.3 million TEU. This figure is based on Alphaliner’s analysis of the 41 weekly services unveiled on November 3 by the four alliance members, CMA CGM (including APL), COSCON, Evergreen, and OOCL.

The carrier group is set to become the largest alliance in container shipping history, with an initial plan to offer 20 weekly sailings from Asia to North America and 11 weekly sailings from Asia to Europe. The OCEAN Alliance will also jointly operate three transatlantic strings and seven Far East – Middle East/Red Sea loops.

The other new carrier group, THE Alliance, also unveiled its new network plan on November 8 and it intends to offer 31 weekly services. An estimated total of 244 ships with an aggregate capacity of 2.25 million TEU will be deployed by the six THE Alliance members, Hapag-Lloyd (with its prospective merger partner United Arab Shipping Company), K Line, MOL, NYK, and Yang Ming. They will jointly provide a total of 16 transpacific loops and eight Asia-Europe services, together with six transatlantic loops and one Far East-Middle East string. The services were scaled down from an original plan that included the in a South Korean court. Hanjin’s assets are now in the process of being liquidated.