Malaysia’s MISC to Quit Grand Alliance

Malaysian container carrier MISC Berhad issued a notice to its partners in the Grand Alliance that it intends to withdraw from the group as of Jan. 1, 2010.

With the notice, MISC is effectively withdrawing from the European and Mediterranean trade lanes, covered by the memorandum of understanding of 2007, it said in an announcement on the Malaysian stock exchange.

This would leave the other Grand Alliance members Hapag-Lloyd, NYK and OOCL to pick up the slack.

MISC participates in five of the Grand Alliance’s Asia-Europe loops, EU1, EU2, EU3, EU4 and the Asia-Europe Express (AEX), according to its Web site.

MISC, a subsidiary of Malaysian state oil and gas company Petronas, joined the Grand Alliance in 1998.

MISC said the present global economic downturn had severely impacted the global liner industry, with many leading operators having to react radically to manage the downturn.

The withdrawal of MISC’s Liner Division from Asia-Europe trade is part of a portfolio restructuring to reposition its business on a firmer footing to drive future expansion.

As a result of this, the MISC Liner Division’s future focus would be to become a leading Intra-Asia operator, with the Middle-East/Indian subcontinent and Asian trade being one of its core trade services, it explained.

Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.