Big news from the container shipping market, and this time not related to the Red Sea Crisis.
Hapag-Lloyd will leave THE Alliance and start a partnership with Maersk under the name ‘Gemini Cooperation’ from February 2025 onward, immediately after the conclusion of our current 2M Alliance.
Their new network will cover 7 trades: Asia / US West Coast, Asia / US East Coast, Asia / Middle East, Asia / Mediterranean, Asia / North Europe, Middle East – India / Europe and Transatlantic.
The Network will comprise of 26 mainline services. A global network of dedicated shuttles will complement the mainline ocean services centred around owned and/ or controlled transhipment hubs – there are 14 shuttle services in Europe, 4 in the Middle East, 13 in Asia, and 1 in the Gulf of Mexico. These shuttle services will offer a fast connection with flexible capacity between hubs and ports served by shuttle services and vice versa.
In their announcement, the two liners also focused on providing seamless connections to a wide range of transportation products and logistical services and competitive transit times across strategic corridors – the latter point upgraded given the latest trends in Panama Canal and Red Sea crossings.
Between now and February 2025
The 2M Alliance is still a highly reliable network for East-West trades, and MSC remains a valuable partner. We look forward to continued collaboration with MSC between now and the end of the 2M agreement in January 2025, followed by a smooth transition to the new Gemini network.
As things stand now, by 2025, MSC will remain the only large container shipping line that is not part of an alliance. In early 2024, MSC operated a fleet (owned and chartered) of about 5.6 million TEU, with an additional 1.4 million TEU order book.
Do you want to know more about alliances in liner shipping?
Given the recent events, PortEconomics members Theo Notteboom, Thanos Pallis and Jean-Paul Rodrigue have updated the relevant pages of the web companion of their Port Economics, Management and Policy book dedicated to lines shipping alliances: Alliances in Container Shipping.
