Economy Maersk and Hapag Lloyd
This alliance of shipping giants is a declaration of war
Status: 17.01.2024 | Reading time: 3 minutes
A Maersk container ship in the port of Hamburg
Quelle: picture alliance / Daniel Reinhardt/dpa
Two of the world‘s largest container shipping companies are merging part of their shipping lines. The competition is following the new alliance of the world‘s oceans closely – because it is not controversial.
The world‘s five largest container shipping companies come from different countries: MSC as number one comes from Switzerland, Maersk from Denmark, CMA is based in France, Cosco belongs to the Chinese state and Hapag-Lloyd is at home in Hamburg. All are fierce competitors when it comes to transporting containers across the world‘s oceans on one of their giant ships.
The rivalry is now partially over. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd want to start a far-reaching collaboration and offer customers some of their services together. Above all, they want to share facilities in the ports that both companies have almost worldwide. Even if one group does not buy the other or shares are pooled, this alliance between two giants is likely to have a major impact on global shipping.
The new partnership, as the two shipping companies call it, is intended to become a force in the global exchange of goods, especially between Asia and Europe. It would be similarly spectacular if Volkswagen and Toyota entered into a partnership for part of their services – to put it in a comparison.
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What is planned in detail: The cooperation will have a fleet of 290 ships with a capacity of 3.4 million standard containers (TEU, Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit). Maersk will contribute 60 percent of this, Hapag-Lloyd the remaining 40 percent.
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However, this is only a part of their freight fleets – according to the industry service “Alphaliner”, Maersk operates more than 670 ships, Hapag-Lloyd has almost 270 ships. For the larger part of their transport business, the current competitive situation remains the same.
Hapag-Lloyd does not expect antitrust objections
Such connections are not without controversy among container shipping companies. Port operators around the world view these collaborations with suspicion because they fear a concentration of market power. Against this background, the EU Commission intervened and abolished the block exemption regulation within its area of responsibility.
This regulation made the competition rules easier for shipping companies. This rule now ends in April 2024. In general, however, cooperation between shipping companies is not always illegal under EU antitrust law, the EU emphasizes.
When asked about this, Hapag-Lloyd boss Rolf Habben Jansen said that he did not expect any objections from the antitrust authorities. “We have discussed this with the relevant authorities and believe that our agreements are in accordance with the antitrust rules,” said the CEO.
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It is not to be expected that Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk will set their freight prices together. Rather, both companies are likely to remain competitors when it comes to container transport conditions. Maybe this picture will help with the assessment: Two competing bus lines that run on the same routes want to combine part of their vehicle fleet and share their stops and bus stations.
Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk cite the reasons for their partnership as being that they want to enable more punctual deliveries to their customers. There is “the ambitious goal of achieving a timetable reliability of over 90 percent,” according to a statement.
The challenges of the transition to climate-neutral shipping should also be overcome together. Maersk wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to “net zero” by 2040; at Hapag-Lloyd, the year 2045 applies to this environmental goal. The new alliance is scheduled to launch in February 2025. The name is Gemini Cooperation – “Gemini” means “twins” in Latin.
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Interestingly, both shipping companies are giving up previous alliances with other shipping companies. In January 2025, Hapag-Lloyd will end “The Alliance” with the shipping lines ONE from Japan, Yang Ming from Taiwan and HMM from South Korea. Maersk, in turn, also wants to end a connection with the container shipping company MSC at the beginning of 2025. Apparently Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk expect to be a better fit and to be able to cooperate more extensively with each other.
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