Hamburg At Hamburg’s expense
Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk forge new shipping pact
Status: 17.01.2024 | Reading time: 3 minutes
More efficient together? Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd will cooperate on the world‘s oceans in the future
Source: dpa
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So far, the two major shipping companies have been competitors. From next year, Hapag-Llloyd and Maersk will become “twins” with part of their fleets – and thus achieve new market power. This is a problem for the port of Hamburg.
The container shipping companies Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk want to sail the world‘s oceans as partners with part of their fleets in the future. In order to enable customers to receive more punctual deliveries and to overcome the challenges of the climate-neutral conversion, they have agreed on a cooperation, as the companies jointly announced on Wednesday in Hamburg and Copenhagen. The alliance is scheduled to start in February 2025 and is called “Gemini Cooperation”. “Gemini” means “twins” in Latin and English.
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Both partners will give up their previous alliances with other shipping companies at the beginning of next year. Next January, Hapag-Lloyd will be leaving the previous alliance “THE Alliance” with the shipping companies ONE from Japan, Yang Ming from Taiwan and HMM from South Korea. Maersk and the world‘s largest shipping company MSC had already announced at the beginning of 2023 that they would dissolve their alliance, called “2M”, in January 2025.
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According to the industry service “Alphaliner”, the Danish Maersk is the world‘s number two container shipping company with a fleet of more than 670 ships. The Hamburg shipping company Hapag-Lloyd is in fifth place with almost 270 ships. However, not all of the two partners’ fleets are included in the alliance.
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The new cooperation will include a pool of around 290 ships with a combined capacity of 3.4 million standard containers (TEU), according to the statement. Maersk will contribute 60 percent of the capacity, Hapag-Lloyd the remaining 40 percent.
“As part of the agreement, the two companies have set the ambitious goal of achieving schedule reliability of over 90 percent once the network is fully deployed,” it said. Hapag-Lloyd boss Rolf Habben Jansen expects the quality of the offer to be better.
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“In addition, we will benefit from improvements in efficiency in our operations and joint efforts to further accelerate the decarbonization of our industry,” said Habben Jansen. Maersk wants to achieve “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, Hapag-Lloyd by 2045.
Shipping alliances are not without controversy in the maritime economy. For example, land-based transshipment companies fear that shipping companies will have greater market power. That’s why they lobbied the EU Commission to end the so-called block exemption rule. This gave shipping companies reduced competition rules when cooperating. The corresponding regulation expires on April 25th. “However, this does not mean that cooperation between shipping companies would then be unlawful under EU antitrust law,” says the Brussels authority.
What consequences does the alliance have for Hamburg?
The new alliance has negative consequences for Germany’s largest port, Hamburg. According to Hapag-Lloyd, the “Gemini Cooperation” will focus on those ports where Hapag-Lloyd or Maersk own or control terminals. In Germany these are primarily Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven. This should be significantly strengthened. Hapag-Lloyd is planning a total increase in cargo of 20 percent, but also announced that Hamburg should expect a decrease in cargo of around ten percent.
Opposition criticizes the Senate
Götz Wiese, port policy spokesman for the Hamburg CDU parliamentary group, is concerned about the consequences for Hamburg in light of the announcement: “It is questionable whether the fleet pool of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd will lead to cargo being withdrawn from Hamburg. And it is of course also questionable whether this already represents a reaction to MSC’s possible participation in HHLA. A possible investment by MSC in the HHLA holding carries the great risk that everyone else in Hamburg will feel like second-class shipping companies – and react accordingly.” The FDP and the Left also criticize the Senate policy. “The new alliance between Maersk and Hapag Lloyd increases the risk that the Hamburg Senate has gambled away with its planned cooperation with MSC. The throughput volume for the port of Hamburg is in danger of falling,” said Norbert Hackbusch, port policy spokesman for the Left.