Hapag-Lloyd “took the bigger risk” in the partnership with Maersk in the Gemini Cooperation, according to head of hubs and collaboration at APM Terminals Lars Mikael Jensen.
At a recent event to mark the launch of Maersk’s latest dual-fuel vessel, Adrian Maersk, Mr Jensen said the partnership would “reorient the make-up of the container shipping sector”, but stressed that the Danish carrier was not as exposed.
“Compared with us, Hapag-Loyd took a far bigger risk in entering into the Gemini Cooperation,” he said. “But it wanted to be a part of this, and they wanted to develop this modular network.
“To do that meant making use of APM Terminals [an essential part of Gemini’s hub and spoke model], so there’s a risk for Hapag there that we do not have.”
Asked why Maersk had partnered with Hapag, Mr Jensen said developing the hub and spoke model was about finding a partner willing to change its “mindset” on how to ship.
He said Hapag had shown that clearly, and had been enthused about the idea, which, more than two months in, was already influencing the way those within both lines were engaging with the market.
“Before Gemini, everything was about the ship, but now the focus is very much on each individual shipment,” added Mr Jensen.
“Obviously, it is still very early days – what I have been describing as ‘pre-season’, because only now are we seeing the big ships from Asia headed towards Europe. But I am optimistic that the change to the hub and spoke model will result in big savings.”
Under the model, the average number of port calls made by deepsea vessels has been halved from 14 to 7, with feeder vessels serving neighbouring ports.
Mr Jensen said this did not necessarily mean the time between port calls would be reduced, but rather there would be “a larger buffer to absorb delays”, thereby containing them to individual hubs within the network.
Taking this approach, he continued, reduced the chances of a delay at a port having a knock-on impact at others further down the rotation.
