News / New strings attached - shipping shapes up for 2025 with Premier Alliance launch

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The structure of the global container shipping alliance next year is set for a further shake-up after MSC unveiled its new standalone east-west service network and revealed it has concluded a vessel-sharing agreement (VSA) with THE Alliance, covering nine Asia-Europe services.

The pivot point is February 2025, when the 2M partnership of MSC and Maersk is set to disband, while at the same time Hapag-Lloyd will depart THE Alliance to form the Gemini Cooperation with Maersk – at which point, the remaining three THE Alliance carriers – ONE, Yang Ming and HMM – will rebrand as the Premier Alliance and enter into a slot-share agreement with MSC covering the Asia-Europe trades.

In a parallel development, MSC has also signed a three-year VSA with Zim on the transpacific trade.

“We are very pleased to announce this new strategic partnership with MSC, who is the leading carrier in the Asia-Europe trade,” ONE chief executive Jeremy Nixon said.

“Collectively, the Premier Alliance and MSC, will be able to offer a very capable and extensive network of end-to-end port services to its customers from February 2025.

“We look forward to this new cooperation with MSC, and both collaborating on our respective joint operational expertise and combined network synergies,” he added.

Meanwhile, today also saw Israeli carrier ZIM announce that it and MSC had concluded a vessel-sharing agreement on the Asia-North America east coast trade.

In concert with the agreement, the Premier Alliance carriers published their new network for 2025, and MSC did likewise, including the remaining deepsea trades where it intends to continue as a standalone carrier.

According to the schedules published today, the Premier Alliance members are set to offer six Asia-North Europe services, five of which will be operated in cooperation with MSC – the FN2/Griffin, the FE3/Condor, the FE4/Silk, the FE5/Lion and the FE6/Swan, which means the Premier Alliance’s FP1 and IOX – a service between North Europe and the Middle East/India – will remain outside VSA with MSC.

By the same token, MSC’s Asia-North Europe Albatross and Britannia services will be operated independently by the Swiss carrier.

On the Asia-Mediterranean trade, MSC and the Premier Alliance will jointly operate the following strings: MD1/Panther, the MS2/Lynx, the MD3/Tiger and the MD4/Dragon, which leaves MSC’s Jade and Phoenix Asia-Mediterranean as standalone, as well as the Premier Alliance’s IOM Mediterranean-Middle East/India service.

As a side note, MSC’s published 2025 Asia-Europe schedules interestingly come in two versions – one with transits via the Cape of Good Hope, as well as one with Suez transits, in the hope that the Red Sea crisis may end next year.

According to ONE, the Premier Alliance members are set to offer six transpacific services into the US Pacific South-west, and three into the Pacific north-west range, as well as four Asia-North America east coast services.

Currently, it has not published a transatlantic schedule, which it said would be updated separately.

In a related development, MSC and Zim have signed a three-year VSA agreement between Asia and the North America east and Gulf coast services, covering MSC’s six services on the trade – the America/Z7S, Emerald/ZXB, Empire/ZNS, Amberjack/ZCP, Lone Star/ZGC, and Pelican/ZSL, while Zim’s two transpacific express services between China and California will remain independent.

“This important collaboration reflects ZIM’s commitment to both delivering an outstanding shipping solution to its customers, and taking continuous proactive steps to enhance efficiencies in our network,” Zim president and chief executive Eli Glickman said.

“It is the direct outcome of our fleet renewal programme which has greatly enhanced Zim’s competitive position, particularly on the Asia to US East Coast trade.

“We are pleased to, once again, join forces with MSC, an industry leader and Zim’s long-standing trusted partner, to augment our network while upholding our customer-centric approach and commitment to the highest levels of service,” he added.