It appears that carrier alliances are working hard to position themselves ahead of 2025, when 2M Alliance partners Maersk and MSC officially go their separate ways.
Last month, the industry was shocked at the announcement that Maersk and Hapag Lloyd would be working together in the Gemini Cooperation from next year. Not just because Hapag Lloyd are existing members of THE Alliance (THEA), but also because many felt Maersk had been communicating a solo future.
This has now been followed by Taiwanese carrier Wan Hai Lines confirming a transpacific service partnership with Ocean Network Express (ONE). While this announcement relates specifically to two carriers operating one service, according to a recent report in The Loadstar, Wan Hai Lines could be considered as a replacement for Hapag Lloyd in THEA.
Wan Hai is the world’s 11th-largest steamship line with a capacity of 592,000 TEU. The carrier originally focused on Intra-Asia services, but launched transpacific services in 2020, and is believed to be open to entering the Asia-Europe market.
If this is the case then the THEA Alliance will be made up exclusively of Asia based carriers. ONE are an amalgamation of Japanese carriers NYK, MOL and K Line, Yang Ming are Taiwanese, and HMM are South Korea based.
So, as things stand, the current 2025 lineups are: MSC operating independently, Maersk & Hapag Lloyd working in the Gemini Cooperation, The Ocean Alliance remaining unchanged and THEA potentially adding Wan Hai. However, things could change again in the coming weeks.
If you have any questions regarding the above, then Westbound are here to help. So, please do not hesitate to contact us.
