A new order on the horizon?
A new era of alliances is in the making. Hapag-Lloyd and A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) have agreed to launch a new alliance to be called ”Gemini Cooperation” from February 2025 onwards.
While the break-up of 2M between Maersk and MSC had been announced in January 2023, Hapag-LLoyd has now "given notice to end its membership of The Alliance at the end of January 2025," as its CEO 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 these 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)