Vessel-Sharing Agreement (VSA)

A vessel-sharing agreement is an operational cooperation between liner carriers that pool tonnage on a trade lane, each contributing ships and taking an allocation of slots on every vessel in the joint service. Unlike a rate conference, a VSA coordinates capacity and schedules, not prices, which is why it survived the loss of conference antitrust immunity. The EU Consortia Block Exemption (Regulation (EC) No 906/2009, extended by Regulation 2020/436) exempted qualifying consortia until it lapsed on 25 April 2024, after which VSAs are assessed under general EU competition rules. Each carrier issues its own bills and sets its own freight, so the VSA does not make them a single carrier to cargo.