The Massachusetts Port Authority is trying to hang on to its direct link services in the trans-Atlantic trade. Two services remain since the recent expiration of the Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA), which was a consortium of P&O Nedlloyd, Hapag-Lloyd, Orient Overseas Container Line and Maersk Sealand. The VSA had been servicing Boston for almost 15 years.
Maersk Sealand is all that remains of that direct-call group at Massport. Mediterranean Shipping Company also offers direct service at the port. Container barge line, Columbia Coastal Transport, will be carrying P&O Nedlloyd, OOCL and Hapag-Lloyd cargoes into the port via its feeder service.
In the meantime, Massport has been assembling its own coalition including importers and exporters, to try and pursuade the two direct services to stay, especially given the fact that Maersk Sealand might bolt by the end of the year. The shipping line is currently offering its direct service from Northern Europe to Boston.
Michael Leone, Massport's port director, made a call for support, offering up a strategy in a recently released public letter. "We determined that if New England importers and exporters committed cargo to and from other ports and trade lanes to carriers that call the Port of Boston, they would swing a far stronger bat than if we concentrated on Boston cargo alone."
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