FMC seeks public comments on new Maersk & Hapag-Lloyd Cooperative Agreement

LONDON : The Federal Maritime Commission has opened a 12-day comment period allowing interested members of the public to respond to Maersk and Hapag Lloyd’s newly filed vessel sharing agreement, the Gemini Cooperation Agreement.

Instructions for submitting comments are included in a Notice of Agreements Filed published in the Federal Register yesterday.  The deadline for submitting comments is Tuesday, June 18, 2024.

Comments submitted are confidential under 46 CFR 535.608 and subject to the exceptions noted there.

The agreement will allow Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd to globally coordinate their vessel operations. The parties propose operating under a structure whereby major ports of call will be served directly (the Mainline Network), and other ports will be served by a shuttle services (the Shuttle Network).

Activities conducted under agreements filed with the Commission and in effect are not subject to federal antitrust laws. If the Commission takes no action, the Gemini Agreement will become effective on July 15, 2024.

The Gemini Cooperation Agreement (No. 201429) is available for public inspection in the Commission’s online Agreement Library.

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are not currently parties to the same vessel sharing agreement.