The long-term operational cooperation will start in February 2025 with a fleet of about 290 vessels, the companies said in statements on Wednesday. Maersk will deploy 60% and Hapag-Lloyd the rest. The ships will be able to carry 3.4 million 20-foot container units.
The announcement from Copenhagen-based Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd of Hamburg, Germany, marks another retooling of the world’s three major shipping alliances — essentially vessel-sharing agreements that the biggest players have operated under to maximize capacity and keep costs low.
Maersk and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA announced the end of the 2M Alliance last year, effective in 2025. Today’s move sees Hapag-Lloyd exiting THE Alliance, which includes Asian carriers Ocean Network Express, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. and HMM Co.
Left intact is the Ocean Alliance, with France’s CMA CGM SA, Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp. and China Cosco Shipping Corp.Maersk decided to leave the 2M Alliance because the Danish shipping company didn’t have enough control over the network design and execution in order to achieve the level of reliability that it wanted, and it “felt that there was a need for a different solution,” Johan Sigsgaard, an executive vice president, said at a news conference on Wednesday.Sigsgaard said there’s a “big difference” in the setup with Hapag-Lloyd, for example in that routes will be “significantly leaner” with fewer stops, meaning timetables are more likely to hold. The two firms are also more aligned on their commitment to quality, he said.Maersk is transforming from a shipping line to a transport company handling almost the entire supply chain for its customers, also pursuing growth in land-based transport and air freight where profit margins for end-to-end services are higher.
