A new round of reshuffling has begun among the members of the major container alliances. With the approval from the Chinese authorities for a merger between Cosco and China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) - the world's sixth and seventh largest container carriers respectively when measured in capacity - the question is now which alliance the two carriers will be united within.

This is precisely the question that will cause insecurity among the shippers and the timing is unfortunate for practically every carrier with the exception of Maersk Line and MSC, which are united in the 2M alliance - the only one of the four major alliances which will continue unaltered after the two big mergers this week.