Container shipping industry giants Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk have signed an agreement for a new long-term operational collaboration called ”Gemini Cooperation”, which will start in February 2025.
“Teaming up with Maersk will help us to further boost the quality we deliver to our customers. Additionally, we will benefit from efficiency gains in our operations and joint efforts to further accelerate the decarbonization of our industry,” says Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.
The new cooperation between Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk will comprise a fleet pool of around 290 vessels with a combined capacity of 3.4 million containers (TEU); Maersk will deploy 60% and Hapag-Lloyd 40%.
As highlighted by Jensen many of these ships will be ready to adopt cleaner fuels.
“We are pleased to enter this cooperation with Hapag-Lloyd, which is the ideal ocean partner on our strategic journey. By entering this cooperation, we will be offering our customers a flexible ocean network that will be raising the bar for reliability in the industry. This will strengthen our integrated logistics offering and meet our customers’ needs,” says Vincent Clerc, CEO of Maersk.
As a part of the agreement, the two companies have set the ambitious target of delivering schedule reliability of above 90% once the network is fully phased in. The aim is to improved service quality, resulting in improved transit times in many major port-to-port corridors and access to some of the world’s best connected ocean hubs.
Both companies are committed to the decarbonization of their fleets and have set the most ambitious decarbonization targets in the industry with Maersk aiming for net-zero in 2040 and Hapag-Lloyd in 2045.
These efforts have resulted in significant investments in energy-efficiency improvements and alternatively-powered ships, including LNG and biofuels by Hapag-Lloyd and methanol by Maersk.
Source: World Maritime News
