The invention relates to a clamp for holding vessels, in particular, bottles in vessel transport machines, comprising two clamping arms (3, 5, 51) which can be displaced in relation to each other in order to open and close said vessels. Each clamping arm comprises a gripping arm (11, 13, 53) and at least one clamping arm comprises a counter arm (19, 21, 55). The vessels are centred in an exact manner and the pressure forces can be absorbed in order to simplify the construction thereof. The clamping arm is embodied as a single piece with a gripping arm and a counter arm such that the gripping arm is dimensionally stable and the counter arm is elastic.