The new cooperation agreement between the two expansive container carriers Hamburg Süd and United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) opens up for new possibilities for the two carriers, but the industry is still a long way off from actual global container alliances covering the major East-West trade from the Far East to Northern Europe as well as the North-South trades that, in addition to Africa and Latin America, also over the Indian sub-continent and Oceania, says analyst agency Drewry on the basis of sparse data from Hamburg Süd and UASC about the scope of their new agreement.