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Another five years for THE container alliance

[ February 27, 2024   //   ]

The members of the Ocean Alliance – CMA CGM, COSCO SHIPPING, Evergreen and OOCL – have extended their agreement for at least five additional years from 2027, until 2032.

Launched in 2017, the Ocean Alliance says it is the world’s largest operational shipping network and would continue to serve an extensive range of ports.

The move follows the announcement in January by AP Moller-Maersk that it would enter a long-term operational collaboration with Hapag-Lloyd, Gemini, in 2025 following the expiry of its present 2M partnership with MSC. At the same time, Hapag-Lloyd would leave THE Alliance in which it participates with NYK, Yang Ming, MOL, K-Line and HMM, at the end of January 2025.

Speaking at a Webinar organised by shipping analysts Drewry on 27 February, managing director Tim Power and senior associate Tony Mason said that what happened to THE Alliance was a question that needed to be answered.

Ocean would in fact remain a major operator – by many counts the largest operator – with a total of 40 service loops, compared with Gemini’s 21. THE would have 19 and Maersk’s former partner, MSC, 15.

However, they added: “THE is not in a bad place” although it might face challenges on some trades.

MSC, shorn of its 2M partner, would arguably lose the largest number of services, although it also had the largest number of new ships on order.

It also remained to be seen how well Gemini partners Maersk and Hapag Lloyd proposed model of a limited number of hub ports and extensive use of connecting services would work.

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