NEW NORTH ATLANTIC VSA TO BE LAUNCHED

   A new, expanded vessel-sharing alliance plans to begin operating on the
North Atlantic by the middle of March.
   The transatlantic Vessel Sharing Agreement — which comprises Sea-Land,
P&O Nedlloyd, and OOCL — will be expanded to NYK, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk. Details are not yet clear, but it appears that the new arrangement will eliminate four former Econships that Sea-Land has operated in the trade for the last decade.
   The Econships were built in the 1980s for the ill-fated round-the-world
service of United States Lines. Despite modifications, the ships’ slow
speeds make them hard to work into schedules alongside faster vessels.
   Sources said the changes in the North Atlantic VSA won’t affect five
other Econships in a South American service between Europe and the U.S.
Gulf and South Atlantic.