Vessel-sharing dynamics in the container industry continue to shift after it emerged over the weekend that THE Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd, NYK, Yang Ming, MOL, K-Line and HMM) will become the Premier Alliance as of next February.
The new alliance will consist of One Network Express (ONE), Yang Ming and HMM, and will be formed after Hapag-Lloyd departs to join Maersk in the much-vaunted Gemini Cooperation, formed to fill the void created by MSC’s dissolution of the 2M alliance it has with the Danish carrier.
More importantly, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, which has decided to sail solo based on its sheer fleet size — currently the largest in the world — has signed on to assist Premier Alliance with plugging holes in Asia-Europe rotations created by Hapag-Lloyd's departure.
According to a liner trade report from Singapore, THE Alliance will be the smallest vessel-sharing arrangement once Hapag-Lloyd leaves, which won’t be the case through MSC’s involvement when it becomes the Premier Alliance.
ONE chief executive Jeremy Nixon welcomed the development, saying the tripartite alliances’ clients could expect solid schedule reliability on east-west rotations as well as Transpacific sailings.
MSC has indicated that it has entered into a slot-exchange deal with Premier Alliance on nine east-west services.
MSC maintains that, despite its fast-growing fleet, which set a global standard as the first container line to surpass the five-million-TEU capacity mark, its focus would remain on rendering an independent service.
As of January 1, MSC's fleet consisted of 783 cellular ships representing 5.6 million TEUs, heralding growth of 22% which will only continue with 122 ships still on order, representing 1.47 million TEUs.
MSC's operational capacity currently stands at over 5.2 million TEUs, with its market share reaching 19.9%
Its order book boasts newbuilds representing two million slots, and to date it has bought almost 400 second-hand vessels.
The only capacity-sharing alliance that remains unchanged is the Ocean Alliance, consisting of CMA-CGM, Cosco Group, OOCL and Evergreen.
The four lines have renewed their working relationship till March 2025.
