Most in the industry have probably already heard that Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk will be forming a new partnership, the “Gemini Cooperation” – starting February 2025.
As such, Hapag-Lloyd will be leaving THE Alliance at the end of January 2025 but say they are committed to ensuring a “seamless transition, ensuring [we meet] your requirements is our top priority,” per the German-based carrier’s website.
Maersk will be leaving the 2M Alliance at the end of January 2025 and also emphasized the importance of a smooth transition from one alliance to another, and continuing to service customers with existing agreements.
A joint statement by THE Alliance (HMM, Yang Ming, ONE and Hapag-Lloyd):
“We wish to emphasize our unwavering commitment to maintaining a robust cooperations throughout 2024, ensuring that the highest standards of cooperation and exceptional service are delivered to our stakeholders and the industry at large.”
Details of the New Vessel Agreement
In this vessel agreement, the network will cover seven trade lanes:
- Asia – North Europe
- Asia – Mediterranean
- Middle East – Europe
- Middle East, India – Mediterranean
- Asia – Middle East
- Asia – U.S. East Coast
- Asia – U.S. West Coast
- Trans-Atlantic
It will have a fleet pool of about 290 vessels and 26 services totaling a capacity of 3.4 million containers (TEUs). Maersk will be providing 60 percent and Hapag-Lloyd will cover the remaining 40 percent.
Some areas of focus within this new partnership will be schedule reliability – hoping to achieve a target of 90 percent. Competitive transit times and decarbonization efforts – Maersk is targeting net zero by 2040 and Hapag-Lloyd is targeting net zero by 2045.
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Looking Ahead
Both carriers are looking forward to the opportunities of this new vessel agreement.
“Teaming up with Maersk will help us to further boost the quality we deliver to our customers. Additionally, we will benefit from efficiency gains in our operations and joint efforts to further accelerate the decarbonization of our industry,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.
“We are pleased to enter this cooperation with Hapag-Lloyd, which is the ideal ocean partner on our strategic journey. By entering this cooperation, we will be offering our customers a flexible ocean network that will be raising the bar for reliability in the industry. This will strengthen our integrated logistics offering and meet our customers’ needs,” said Vincent Clerc, CEO of Maersk.
Should you have any questions regarding this and how it could impact your shipments, please reach out to our team today.
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