LYKES JOINS TRANS-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE AGREEMENT

LYKES JOINS TRANS-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE AGREEMENT    The Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement has gained a new member — Lykes Lines — after several years of declining ocean carrier membership.
   Lykes applied to join the conference of the North Atlantic trade last Friday.
   Besides Lykes, the TACA conference carriers are Atlantic Container Line, Hapag-Lloyd, Mediterranean Shipping Co., Maersk Sealand, NYK, OOCL and P&O Nedlloyd.
   A spokesman for TACA said that the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission and the European Commission have been informed of the change of membership.
   Under the new regime of confidential, individual service contracts, no major changes are expected following Lykes’ membership, a TACA spokesman said.
   A spokesman for Lykes said that the carrier applied to join TACA “to cooperate with TACA membership in developing more efficient liner services in the trade and help foster trade stability.”
   Commercially, there is no change, nor impact on the relationship between Lykes and its customers, the carrier said. “We retain our commercial flexibility,” a spokesman added.
   “At present, it is illegal for us to discuss market conditions with the member lines of the Grand Alliance, whom we cooperate with on the North Atlantic,” Lykes said. “By joining TACA, this permits us to discuss market conditions.”
   Lykes has operated outside the transatlantic conference for more than a decade, but Ray Miles, the chief executive of its parent company, CP Ships, was known to support the conference system. Last October, Lykes joined the new Americana Ships/Grand Alliance transatlantic vessel-sharing agreement with TACA carriers P&O Nedlloyd, Hapag-Lloyd, NYK and OOCL.
   In the early 1990’s, the Trans-Atlantic Agreement had 15 carrier members, but most have resigned following punitive actions taken by the European Commission.