Carrier Alliances Shaken Up By Maersk & Hapag
Maersk and Hapag Lloyd have announced a new carrier collaboration this week that seems to have broken the mould of the existing alliance structure.
The two carriers have formed the new ‘Gemini Cooperation’ which will be effective from February of next year, and will see them collaborate together on the major routes of Asia-Europe, Transatlantic, Asia-US, Asia-Middle East, Asia-Mediterranean and Middle East/India-Europe.
Together they will offer around 3.4m TEU of capacity on 290 vessels via 26 mainline services. Of that capacity, Maersk will be providing 60%.
It had been widely expected that Maersk would be going solo with their own network when their relationship with MSC and the 2M Alliance concludes next year. However, their CEO has just stated that Hapag Lloyd are “the ideal partner on our strategic journey”.
It is Hapag Lloyd’s involvement which comes as the biggest surprise to the shipping industry, as they are existing members of THE Alliance (THEA), and according to some reports that agreement is not due to expire until 2030.
As for the remaining members of THEA, namely ONE, Yang Ming and HMM, it is unclear how they will remodel without Hapag Lloyd. The next few weeks or months will give us a much better understanding of where the carrier landscape is heading and the Killick team will keep you updated with developments.
