Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd AG (Hapag-Lloyd) and A.P. Moller - Maersk Denmark’s Maersk - two large global container shipping lines with a strong presence in India - have signed an agreement for a new long-term operational collaboration called Gemini Cooperation, which will start in February 2025. The alliance is likely to create a major realignment in global container shipping in a year with Hapag-Lloyd leaving the alliance by the end of January, 2025. In January, 2023, Maersk and MSC had announced that the 2M alliance would end in January, 2025.
The new cooperation between Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk will comprise a fleet pool of around 290 vessels with a combined capacity of 3.4 million containers (TEU); Maersk will deploy 60 per cent and Hapag-Lloyd 40 per cent, says a joint announcement made on Wednesday night.
Both have committed to the decarbonisation of their fleets and have set the most ambitious decarbonisation targets in the industry with Maersk aiming for net-zero in 2040 and Hapag-Lloyd in 2045, a joint statement said.
As a consequence of joining this cooperation, Hapag-Lloyd will leave the alliance at the end of January, 2025.
During 2024, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd will carefully plan the transition from their current alliances to the new operational cooperation. Concurrently, service to customers will continue along existing agreements.
The cooperation will cover seven trades: Asia / US West Coast, Asia / US East Coast; Asia / Middle East, Asia / Mediterranean, Asia / North Europe, Middle East – India / Europe and Transatlantic. It will comprise of the 26 mainline services. The mainline ocean services will be complemented by a global network of dedicated shuttles centred around owned and/ or controlled transhipment hubs – there are14 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, the statement said.
Jon Monroe, an expert in the container industry based in the US in a social media post said, “I believe this alliance fits. It makes a lot of sense. Two Northern European companies. Each might have a different goal as to what they want to get out of this alliance. Two great companies. Now let’s see what they can do together. My bet is in a few years they are one. This is a trial run.”
An official with a leading freight forwarding company said the Gemini Cooperation will help the trade as there could be flexibility in slot arrangements between the two shipping majors. Both the lines have a major presence in India, he said.