Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd Agree on a Future Shipping Network

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have agreed to cooperate on a shipping network planned for February 2025. The agreement sets a direction for their future operations while leaving a transition period ahead. This editorial adaptation covers the announcement of 17 January 2024.

An agreement before the network begins

Reuters reported that the carriers had signed the long-term Gemini Cooperation agreement. The initial plan envisages around 290 vessels and capacity of 3.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEU. These are planned fleet resources, not a count of containers already transported under the arrangement.

A transition through 2024

In their joint release, the companies said customers would continue to be served under existing agreements during the transition. New vessel schedules would follow when available. Hapag-Lloyd planned to leave THE Alliance at the end of January 2025; Maersk's 2M arrangement was also due to end that month.

Separate the planning decisions

• Identify the service relevant to a shipment's actual departure period.
• Distinguish a network announcement from a confirmed vessel schedule.
• Keep a proposed future arrangement separate from an existing booking.

These are editorial reading points, not new booking rules issued by either carrier. For example, a hypothetical exporter preparing next year's sales plan might follow the network's development without treating that plan as confirmation of a particular sailing. Planning an annual flow of goods and confirming a departure are different decisions.

A reliability ambition, not a measured result

The partners set a schedule-reliability target above 90% after the network is fully phased in. The January announcement presents an ambition for the future system; it does not report that level as an achieved operating result.

Nor should a network-level objective be read as an individual shipment guarantee. Evaluating the eventual service will require observations from operations, while interpreting the announcement requires attention to its date and conditions. This report does not add a predicted freight rate, a promised saving or a later network revision to the January agreement.

Container loading at a terminal

Company and press contact

Hapag-Lloyd AG, a party to the joint announcement. Press contact listed on 17 January 2024: Nils Haupt; Nils.Haupt@hlag.com; +49 40 3001-2263.

Company website: https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/