After a few weeks from Mofcom’s decision to prohibit the P3 alliance, Maersk Line and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company announced the new 2M alliance, a ten-year Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA) on the Trans-Atlantic, Trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trade routes. The VSA, which is expected to start in early 2015, will involve about 185 vessels operating 21 liner services, with around 2.1 million TEUs total capacity. In addition to having a smaller market share than P3 (deriving from Cma Cgm’s exclusion from the new deal), 2M would be a simpler cooperation by means of Vessel Sharing, without any separate independent organisation with executive powers to manage the network.