Today, January 17, two major marine cargo operators-the Danish A. P. Moller-MARSK and the German Hapag-Lloyd-announced the creation of an alliance, within the framework of which they will jointly use each other to transport each other. As part of the alliance, which was called Gemini Cooperation, carriers will jointly use 290 vessels with a total loading of 3.4 million containers. This should increase the efficiency of companies and the accuracy of the delivery time of goods. 60% of joint capacities will be used by Maersk, 40%-Hapag-Lloyd. The agreement will enter into force on February 2025.
According to experts, the agreement of two large marine carriers significantly changes the alliance system in this market. Hapag-Lloyd said that the next year it would be left from The Alliance with the South Korean HMM, Singapore Ocean Network Express and Taiwanese Yang Ming. Maersk had previously stated that from January 2025 she will leave the 2M alliance with Mediterranean Shipping, which it has been part of 2015. In total, Maersk 740 containers, Hapag-Lloyd-264.
After a sharp increase in demand for container transportation during pandemic in recent years, the demand for containers has fallen. At the end of 2023, carriers were faced with the need to redirect the vessels bypassing the Red Sea due to the attacks of the Yemen Husites, as a result of which prices increased significantly. At the same time, according to experts, the main problem of companies in the medium term will be an excess of capacities with insufficient demand.
“Despite the interruptions in the Red Sea, affecting short -term flow prices for containers, the industry has a significant excess of supply in relation to the demand: the volume of marine cargo transportation in November was only 5% more than in 2019, and the volumes of container trucks are more than more than 20% higher than the level of 2019 "
- Note analysts Barclays.
