Shipping industry majors Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk have signed an agreement for a new long-term operational collaboration called ‘Gemini Cooperation’, which will start in February 2025.
The ambition is to deliver a flexible and interconnected ocean network with industry-leading reliability.
The new cooperation between the companies will comprise a fleet pool of around 290 vessels with a combined capacity of 3.4 million containers (TEU). Maersk will deploy 60% and Hapag-Lloyd 40%, the shipping giants said.
As a part of the agreement, the two companies have set the target of delivering schedule reliability of above 90% once the network is fully phased in.
As well as improved service quality, customers will also benefit from improved transit times in many major port-to-port corridors and access to some of the world’s best connected ocean hubs.
“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.
“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,” added Vincent Clerc, CEO of Maersk.
Both companies are committed to the decarbonization of their fleets and have set the most ambitious decarbonization targets in the industry with Maersk aiming for net-zero in 2040 and Hapag-Lloyd in 2045.
As a consequence of joining this cooperation, Hapag-Lloyd will leave THE Alliance end of January 2025. In January 2023, Maersk and MSC announced that the 2M alliance will end in 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 newly-formed cooperation will cover seven trade areas: Asia; U.S. West Coast, Asia; U.S. East Coast, Asia; Middle East, Asia; Mediterranean, Asia; North Europe, Middle East – India; Europe and Transatlantic.