APL vice-president Peter Hall has not ruled that the G6 Alliance may expand its scope to enter into new trades to compete with the proposed P3 alliance that would united the world's top three carriers, Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM.

But Mr Hall declined to confirm whether discussions were being held between member ocean liners over the possibility of expansion, told London's Containerisation International.

"The G6 Alliance has already this year decided to go into the US east coast so that is a sign that when an opportunity presents itself the alliance will review and decide what to do," Mr Hall said.

"The G6 Alliance makes business adjustments as necessary to optimise its operations and service offerings.

"Decisions are based on such criteria as assuring quality service, anticipating customer needs, operational efficiency and cost management."

The G6 Alliance members include NYK Line, Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL, APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and MOL, which provide container shipping services on the Asia-North Europe, Asia-Mediterranean and Asia-US east coast tradelanes.

Industry sources have suggested that the alliance is considering expansion in to the US west coast and transatlantic trades.

One obstacle is that its member shipping lines and their subsidiaries operate rival terminals on the west coast.