2M Alliance Carriers To Split

2M Alliance members, Maersk & MSC, announced they be will ending their vessel sharing arrangements in 2025, in a joint statement last week.

The world’s two biggest carriers currently collaborate to operate 2M as one of the three carrier alliances that dominate global shipping, along with THE Alliance and the Ocean Alliance.

The statement read “MSC and Maersk recognise that much has changed since the two companies signed the 10-year agreement in 2015. Discontinuing the 2M Alliance paves the way for both companies to continue to pursue their individual strategies.”

While there have been movements along the way, the overall carrier alliance structure has pretty much been in place since the aftermath of Hanjin going bust, which sent the market into panic mode back in 2016/7.

Therefore, the dissolving of one of the global alliances is a major development and perhaps signifies a market shake-up in the coming months, with new alliances forged.

MSC continue to build their fleet, after taking over as the largest carrier from Maersk in recent times. They may be looking to position themselves on their own, without the need for partners or vessel sharing to offer their global services.

The same seems unlikely of Maersk, which is perhaps what will lead to a carrier merry-go-round and some movement in the other alliance relationships.

Westbound will be following developments with great interest.