A new order on the horizon?
A new era of alliances is in the making. Hapag-Lloyd and A.P. Moller-Maersk have agreed to launch a new alliance, called the 'Gemini Cooperation', in February 2025.
The break-up of 2M, an alliance between Maersk and MSC, was already announced in January 2023. Now Hapag-LLoyd has "given notice to end its membership of 'The Alliance' at the end of January 2025," as its CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said in a press release.
The new partnership will cover seven global (sub-)trades and offer 26 mainline services. Twelve ports have been selected as key hubs and will serve as major nodes of the combined network. Furthermore, the 'Gemini Cooperation' will run 32 dedicated regional shuttle services to and from said key hubs to other ports. Out of these, fourteen shuttle services will cover Europe, four the Middle East, thirteen Asia and one the Gulf of Mexico.
Maersk said that its 59 terminals (owned or JVs) in 31 countries will complement Hapag's engagement in 20 terminals in Europe, Latin America, USA, India, and North Africa.
The fleet of the new alliance will comprise 290 vessels with a total capacity of 3.4 million teu. Maersk will contribute about 60% of the fleet, Hapag-Lloyd the remaining 40%. With regards to future commitments, both new partners highlighted their "ambitious target of delivering a schedule reliability of above 90%, once the network is fully phased in."
In addition, the companies’ decarbonisation goals have been fixed for 2040 (Maersk) and 2045 (Hapag-Lloyd). The duration of the 'Gemini Cooperation' agreement was not disclosed, although Hapag-LLoyd and Marsk mentioned "a long-term operational collaboration." (cd)