The management of COSCO Container Lines Ltd., Hanjin Shipping Co.,Ltd. (also representing Senator Lines GmbH), Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha - "K Line" , Ltd. and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp., met together in Shanghai in order to provide best services to their customers, the five Lines reviewed their present cooperation pattern in the field of international sea container transport and expansion of further cooperation looking forward for an agreement to form a new global alliance.It was jointly agreed among the Lines that cooperation among the Lines in the industry was irreversible, reaching the conclusion that the only way to provide best service to their customers in the container shipping industry is to strengthen the cooperation tie among the lines by means of optimization of each carriers' assets, rationalization of their services on a global basis, creating a competitive and high quality service, which including, but not limited to, competitive transit time, convenient frequency and comprehensive port coverage optimizing each carrier's assets on a global basis.

Therefore, the Lines have decided to study any feasible measure and accelerate the process of cooperation with an ultimate goal of establishing an alliance comprising COSCO Container Lines Ltd., Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd., Yang Ming Marine Transport Cooperation, and Hanjin Shipping Co., Ltd. (also representing Senator Lines GmbH) based on their worldwide network.