In February 2025, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd launch their operational collaboration Gemini Cooperation, and the ambition is to deliver a flexible and interconnected ocean network with schedule reliability above 90 percent.
“Since the two companies unveiled the new long-term collaboration in January 2024, they have been working on finalising the details of the operational collaboration which covers a joint ocean freight network on East-West trades.
“With around five months to launch, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are now ready to share an update covering finalised service maps and how the network has evolved since the announcement in January 2024. Additionally, the companies are also presenting an alternative Cape of Good Hope network due to the on-going disruptions in the Red Sea,” says an official release.
Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO, Hapag-Lloyd says: “Reliability, connectivity and sustainability are the keywords in the networks we are presenting today, and we are pleased that we now can give our customers full transparency about how we will deliver a best-in-class ocean network so they can begin planning despite a highly dynamic situation.”
The Gemini Cooperation will announce which network it expects to put to sea in February 2025 by October 2024, the release added.
“We are looking forward to the launch of our completely redesigned network next year, and we are happy to reconfirm that our schedule reliability target remains unchanged irrespective of which network we will phase in,” says Vincent Clerc, CEO, Maersk. “We believe our collaboration will raise the bar for reliability to the benefit of our customers and set a new and very high standard in the industry.”
MSC has announced a slot exchange cooperation with the Premier Alliance in Asia composed of HMM, Ocean Network Express (ONE) and Yang Ming. It has also announced a long-term operational cooperation with ZIM to cover the Asia-U.S. East Coast and the Asia-U.S. Gulf trades. Both the trades are likely to be operational in February 2025.