MSC and Hapag-Lloyd Add Independent Services Ahead of Alliance Change

MSC container ship (Source: MSC)

According to a report by Alphaliner, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have started building their capacity as both carriers prepare to exit their current alliances.

MSC, which will separate from 2M partner Maersk, has been rolling out independent loops on its Asia-North America and Far East-Europe trades.

Following the launch of two additional independent services in July, MSC's non-2M fleet capacity on the major Asia-North America and Far East-Europe trades now stands at 733,000 TEU, accounting for 33.2% of the carrier's total capacity on these trades.

On the Asia-Europe route, MSC is currently the operator of four loops to Northern Europe (2M 'Lion', 2M 'Griffin', 'Sentosa-Swan' and 'Britannia') and three loops to the Mediterranean (2M 'Jade', 2M 'Tiger' and the standalone loop 'Dragon'). MSC's capacity on the standalone loops will continue to increase in the coming weeks. Its new 'Mustang' service from China - Korea - Long Beach only started on 20 July, meaning the fleet is not yet fully deployed. MSC also launched its Far East-US East Coast ‘Liberty’ loop on August 8.

The Swiss-Italian operator’s stand-alone capacity on the Asia-Europe and Trans-Pacific routes will rise to 921,000 TEUs once all vessels are in place, bringing its non-alliance share on those routes to 38.4%.

MSC’s capacity on those two routes is currently 2.4 million TEUs, compared to the 2.6 million TEUs that Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, which will form the Gemini Cooperation in February 2025, will have.

Hapag-Lloyd has also begun to increase its market share outside THE Alliance, which it will leave to form Gemini. The carrier's 15.4% non-alliance capacity is linked to the start of the independent Far East - North Europe 'China Germany Express' ('CGX') in June 2024. The German carrier also currently provides five 15,440 TEU vessels for the AA7 Asia - US East Coast service, operated jointly with Wan Hai.

Hapag-Lloyd (15.4%) and HMM (28.3%) are the only two alliance members that operate a significant portion of their East-West capacity outside THE Alliance, of which they are both currently members, but this is expected to change as soon as the 2M partnership ends and Hapag-Lloyd joins the Gemini Cooperation with Maersk.

Source: Phaata.com (via Container-News)

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