Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk start revolutionary alliance in shipping!

Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk start revolutionary alliance in shipping!

N/A - On February 1, 2025, the two large shipping companies Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk announced the official foundation of their alliance "Gemini Cooperation". This collaboration allows companies to share their container ships' cargo space in order to be able to work more efficiently and cheaply. The partnership has been prepared for more than a year and is part of a trend in the shipping industry that aims at the formation of modern alliances that have been created since the second half of the 1990s and have now played an important role in international trade. Alliances like this help shipping companies to reduce costs and expand your range of services. However, this happens without any price agreements that are not allowed to the companies, such as Süddeutsche

A central goal of the "Gemini Cooperation" is to improve timetability. Allianz is striving to achieve a punctuality of over 90 percent between the start and finish port. Since Corona pandemic, the industry itself has had difficulty restoring the previous punctuality values. According to the analysis company Sea-Intelligence, Maersk was the best large line shipping company in December 2024 with punctuality of 60.4 percent, while Hapag-Lloyd only came to 49 percent.

Hub-and-spoke system for increasing efficiency

In order to improve punctuality, the new alliance plans to implement the hub-and-spoke system. This logistical concept stipulates that large container ships are only large ports, also called "hubs", start and pass on the goods to regional distribution centers from there. The goal of this system is an increase in efficiency in logistics through central collection points and regional distribution stations, similar to a wheel in which the spokes lead from the hub to the outside points.

The hub-and-spoke system has several advantages, including the better use of the means of transport by bundling shipments and reducing empty. By bundling goods at a central point in large quantities, they can be distributed more efficiently, which ultimately also lowers the operating costs. The regional distribution takes place via depots in various cities or countries that receive the goods directly from the hub and forwarded to the destinations, explains cargo international .

Hapag-Lloyd was previously part of the alliance "The Alliance", which also included Asian shipping companies such as One, Hmm and Yang Ming. These Asian shipping companies are planning to continue working together in the "Premier Alliance" in the future. The reason for the formation of the new alliance could also be seen in the context of the recent separation from Maersk and the world's largest shipping company MSC, which has not been part of an alliance since the beginning of the year, as Süddeutsche