Twilight of the alliances
The end of 2M is looming, ringing in a new era. Maersk hasn’t revealed more than the fact that the decision was “thoroughly evaluated and was mutually agreed.” The end of 2M, due in 2025, is potentially highly explosive for the market.
Copenhagen and Geneva, the home towns of Maersk and MSC respectively, aren’t particularly well-known for revealing much information – certainly not when it comes to substantive matters of corporate strategy. Maersk’s recent media release, stating that the 2M alliance is scheduled to end in January 2025, was particularly meagre, however.
The carrier said it had subjected the move to “a thorough evaluation” and come to an “amicable agreement” with partner MSC. The major Swiss shipping line hadn’t officially commented on the move yet by the time this issue of the ITJ went to press. Hony soit qui mal y pense.
Maersk made no further comment, apart from expressing its desire to minimise potential disruption from the dissolution of the alliance in 2025. 2M’s temporary partnerships with HMM and SM Line already ended in 2020 and 2022 respectively, and its ongoing partial cooperation in some trade lanes with the Israeli carrier Zim wasn’t addressed.
In any case, the end of this alliance will certainly have a major impact on the other two large maritime container alliances and simultaneously open a new chapter in the market dominated by the maritime shipping oligopoly.
It’s worth speculating on whether an impending changes to the relevant regulatory policies in the USA, Europe and Asia may have motivated this decision, concerning the European Union’s ‘consortia block exemption regulations’ (CBER), which grants shipping lines certain exemptions from anti-trust requirements.
The corresponding EU regulations, which first came into force in 2009 and were extended in 2014 and 2020, expire on 25 April 2024. Are the shipping lines merely anticipating a looming sea change?