THE FREIGHT HERO’S WEEKLY SUNDAY BLOG – FEBRUARY 9, 2025

Competing Together

Following the departure of Hapag-Lloyd from the container shipping alliance THE Alliance — which replaced MSC within the M2 alliance and now joins Maersk in forming the new Gemini Alliance — the remaining members of THE Alliance, ONE, HMM, and Yang Ming, will continue their close cooperation under a new alliance name: Premier Alliance. This partnership has been active for five years. In addition to vessel sharing and slot exchange agreements, the three carriers will now swap berthing slots in the Asia-Europe trade lane with the market leader MSC.

Routes

HMM, ONE, and Yang Ming have announced plans to expand capacity on their routes and introduce new vessels to offset the capacity loss. For example:

• HMM will reintroduce a transatlantic service (Europe–USA) that was discontinued in 2018.

• ONE has announced new services between South America’s East Coast and India.

Starting February 2025, MSC will offer an independent East-West network covering five trade lanes:

• Asia – Northern Europe

• Asia – Mediterranean

• Asia West Coast – North America

• Asia – North America (Transpacific)

• Europe – America (Transatlantic)

On the transpacific routes, MSC will cooperate with Israeli carrier ZIM, which is discontinuing its ZMI servicebetween Northern Europe – Eastern Mediterranean and India.

The Gemini Alliance is expected to release its new schedule sometime in February 2025. The Hub & Spoke model will include trade routes between 12 global hubs, serviced by 26 mainline routes and 32 dedicated shuttles.

Together

These changes represent more than just a reshuffling of alliances. Shipping companies are placing greater emphasis on scale efficiency and environmental sustainability. Each carrier must enhance its service offering to stay competitive in a rapidly changing market.

That means more cooperation — and competing together.