Market update on Gemini Cooperation provided by Uniforce Vietnam

Maersk and MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Co), the world’s two largest container shipping lines, confirmed the widespread whisper, announcing on January 25 that they had mutually agreed to end the 2M Alliance. (2M Alliance), effective January 2025. The 2M Alliance is one of three major global shipping alliances on major east-west shipping lanes.

Closing the 2M Alliance will pave the way for both companies to continue pursuing their respective strategies. We greatly value our partnership and look forward to continuing our strong cooperation throughout the remainder of the agreement term. We remain fully committed to providing 2M alliance services to MSC and Maersk customers

This decision has no immediate impact on the services provided to customers using 2M Alliance. Each company’s customer teams will communicate with their respective customers to provide support during and after the 2M Alliance shutdown period.

Both carriers now have fleets of more than 4 million TEUs, much larger than their rivals, with MSC on track to soon have a fleet of more than 5 million TEUs.

The end of the 2M alliance did not stop there. This created an opportunity to open a new era and from there the birth of a new alliance promised to fill that loss. The alliance of HPL and MSK…

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd cooperate to establish the new “Gemini Cooperation” in February 2025, with the ambition to provide a flexible and interconnected maritime transport network. For Hapag-Lloyd, this cooperation will replace participation in THE Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, Yang Ming and Ocean Network Express (ONE), and for Maersk it will replaces 2M Alliance (MSC, Maersk).

• There will be 290 vessels with 3.4 million (TEU) of which Maersk provides 60% and Hapag-Lloyd the rest
• Transit times in port-to-port corridors to improve
• The cooperation will cover 7 trades: Asia/U.S. West Coast, Asia/U.S. East Coast, Asia/Middle East, Asia/Mediterranean, Asia/North Europe, Middle East–India/Europe and Transatlantic
• Gemini Cooperation will comprise of 26 mainline services, complemented by dedicated shuttles around transshipment hubs.

During 2024, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd will plan a transition from the current alliance to a new one, while services to customers will continue under existing agreements. Create a premise for sustainable development for this new cooperation.