News / Alliances still dominate Far-East to Europe trade, but independents fill the gaps

Photo: VesselFinder

The realignment of global shipping alliances has done little to loosen their grip on the Far East–Europe trade, but it has shone the spotlight on the handful of independents carving out space in this increasingly consolidated market.

According to new figures from Alphaliner, the February shake-up — which saw MSC exit the 2M vessel sharing agreement and Maersk launch the Gemini Cooperation with Hapag-Lloyd, and the remnants of THE Alliance continue as the Premier Alliance — has barely shifted the balance of power on the Far East to Europe trade.

According to Alphaliner data, 528 containerships were deployed between the Far East and Europe last month. Their overall capacity, of 7.83m teu, was divided into 4.8m teu on Far East-North Europe, up 3.9% year on year, and 3m teu on Far East-Med, up 10% on November 2024.

Last month, MSC and the eight major carriers in three alliances controlled 93.9% of the capacity on the route, a fractional increase on the 93.4% they cumulatively held a year ago. That leaves the remaining players with 6.1% of the market.

At the top of the non-allied ranks is Zim, the largest standalone carrier on the corridor, though now with a sharply reduced fleet after cutting capacity by 32% year on year.

The Israeli carrier’s 1.1% market share still places it well ahead of Lidl-owned Tailwind, which held its 0.4% share from last year.

Sea Legend and trade newcomer Wan Hai Lines grew the most over the year, according to Alphaliner, the former having increased its capacity on the trade by 59.4%.

On the flip side, SeaLead Shipping suffered from a redelivery of sanctioned chartered vessels and had to terminate 16 charters, losing 65.4% of its capacity on the trade.

But for all the structural advantages enjoyed by MSC, Gemini, and the Ocean and Premier alliances, independents have proved surprisingly resilient. Their collective 6.1% share suggests a durable niche for operators willing to exploit the gaps in geopolitically impacted lanes for tactical short-term opportunities.

According to Alphaliner, these smaller independent carriers mainly target the Far East to Russia or Turkey traffic.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was one driver reshaping Asia–North Europe flows, as deepsea carriers abandoned St Petersburg and regional Russia-focused operators stepped in, diverting volumes from the main alliances via new Asia–SPB and China–Turkey/Egypt feeder routings.

But while independents manoeuvre at the margins, the fundamentals of the market remain largely unchanged. MSC has unsurprisingly retained its dominant position as the biggest Asia–Europe operator, with a 22.7% share, despite only modest growth of 2% on the corridor- “well below the 6.2% market average”.

More dynamic expansion came from Cosco, which recorded a 14.5% capacity increase not tied to alliance pooling. While the Chinese carrier is number four globally, it ranks third in the Far East-Europe trade.

Alphaliner explained that the relaunch of the Ocean Alliance’s NEU3 loop – reinstating 12 Cosco/OOCL ships – helped the grouping lift its collective market share from 31.4% last year to 32.3% now.

The Gemini Cooperation sits just behind MSC, deploying 22.2% of the total capacity.