News / THEA 'plugs the gaps' as Gemini network preparations steam ahead

Photo: Hapag-Lloyd

Ahead of the official departure of Hapag-Lloyd from THE Alliance next February, remaining partners ONE, Yang Ming and HMM continue to work closely to plug potential holes in THEA network to mitigate the impact of the German carrier’s exit.

Meanwhile, Hapag-Lloyd and Gemini alliance partner Maersk say they are “ahead of schedule” with plans for their new east-west vessel-sharing network.

Alphaliner reports that, from October, THEA’s FE4 Asia-North Europe loop will resume regular calls at Colombo on the westbound leg, after previously calling at the Sri Lankan transhipment hub on an ad-hoc basis.

According to the consultant’s data, the Colombo call was added to the FE4’s rotation last November, but it was “systematically skipped from May 2024”.

Alphaliner said prior to the Red Sea crisis, HMM was the sole vessel provider for the FE4 loop, deploying 11 ultra-large 24,000 teu vessels, but as a consequence of the re-routing of the service around the Cape of Good Hope, four ships had been added to the loop, two more by HMM and, significantly, two will now be supplied by ONE.

The first FE4 vessel to return to Columbo will be the 23,792 teu HMM St Petersburg on 21 October, added Alphaliner.

A THEA source told The Loadstar there were other “network tweaks” the partners were working on to improve coverage and to re-assure customer confidence before the withdrawal of Hapag-Lloyd from the alliance.

“We feel we are in a better position with an already established network, but we can’t afford to be complacent and that is why we are looking at all potential weaknesses in the network,” said the source.

Meanwhile, both the Hapag and Maersk CEOs remain “very excited” about the launch of Gemini, which pertains to VSA cooperation on 58 east-west services, involving 26 main line and 32 shuttle services across 85 ports.

Listen to this clip from a recent Loadstar Podcast to hear director of The Global Shipper’s Forum, James Hookham, discuss what shippers want from the upcoming Gemini Alliance: 

Maersk’s Vincent Clerc said he was “confident it [Gemini] will give us a competitive edge”, while Hapag’s Rolf Habben Jansen said preparations for Gemini were “very much on track”.

He said, during a recent earnings call: “We are probably on schedule, or maybe slightly ahead of schedule. I would say that the main milestones ahead of us now are the start of sales in September, the start of bookings in December and then we will gradually move into the Gemini network as from the beginning of next year.

“Of course, the official starting date is 1 February, but in reality the transition from THE Alliance to Gemini will probably take about three months,” added Mr Habben Jansen.

And while Maersk readies for its new cooperation with Hapag, current 2M partner MSC continues on its aggressive growth path, having added 400,000 teu to its fleet so far this year as it prepares to stand alone, outside the alliances.

According to Alphaliner data, MSC currently operates a fleet of 6m teu and also has a huge orderbook, of 1.8m teu.

This compares with Maersk’s fleet of 4.3m teu and its orderbook of just 358,000 teu, and Hapag’s 2.2m teu and orderbook of 192,000 teu.