Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk to team up in Gemini Cooperation

As part of the agreement, the two companies aim to deliver schedule reliability of above 90% once the network is fully phased in. As well as improved service quality, customers will benefit from improved transit times in many major port-to-port corridors and access to some of the world’s best connected ocean hubs.

Both companies are committed to the decarbonising their fleets and have set the most ambitious decarbonisation targets in the industry, with Maersk aiming for net-zero in 2040 and Hapag-Lloyd in 2045.

As a consequence of joining this co-operation, Hapag-Lloyd will leave THE Alliance end of January 2025. In January 2023, Maersk and MSC announced 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 co-operation. Concurrently, service to customers will continue along existing agreements.

Gemini Cooperation will start in February 2025, with both companies providing dedicated operational teams to manage the co-operation.

It will cover seven trades: Asia-US West Coast, Asia-US East Coast, Asia-Middle East, Asia-Mediterranean, Asia-North Europe, India-Europe and Transatlantic.
Gemini Cooperation will comprise of 26 mainline services complemented by a global network of dedicated shuttles centred around owned or controlled transhipment hubs. A statement said these shuttle services will offer a fast connection with flexible capacity between hubs and ports served by shuttle services, and vice versa.

“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 decarbonisation of our industry,” said Hapag-Lloyd chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen.

“We are pleased to enter this co-operation with Hapag-Lloyd, which is the ideal ocean partner on our strategic journey. By entering this co-operation, 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,” said Maersk chief executive Vincent Clerc.