Dive Brief:
- Ocean Network Express, HMM and Yang Ming Marine Transportation are forming an alliance called the Premier Alliance, according to a Monday press release.
- The cooperation will be made up of the carriers’ mainline services across major trade lanes connecting Asia to: North America West Coast, North America East Coast, the Mediterranean, North Europe, and the Middle East.
- “Collectively this new tripartite alliance will offer strong, reliable and highly dependable end-to-end direct port container services to its customers on both the Transpacific and Asia-Europe trades,” Jeremy Nixon, CEO of ONE, said in the press release.
Dive Insight:
ONE, HMM and Yang Ming's newly formed alliance adds more variety for shippers in terms of what network options they have, Lars Jensen, CEO and Partner at Vespucci Maritime, said in a LinkedIn post on Monday.
Ocean carriers were set to adjust their networks when the existing alliances expired in 2025. Fortunately for shippers, that comes at a time when they could use new options, given network-wide disruptions caused by the attacks along the Red Sea.
The first domino to fall was when Maersk and MSC announced it was not renewing its 2M alliance, earlier in 2023. Shortly after, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd formed the Gemini Cooperation. This shakeup meant Hapag-Lloyd was departing with THE Alliance, which is composed of ONE, HMM and Yang Ming.
Then, the Ocean Alliance extended its current agreement until 2032 with CMA CGM, COSCO, OOCL and Evergreen. Zim and MSC this week announced both entered into a new long-term operational cooperation set to launch in February 2025.
MSC is set to have a slot exchange with the Premier Alliance that will involve nine services with expected frequent sailings in Asia to North Europe and Mediterranean trade lanes, ONE said in a press release.
“The clear winner from the announced new networks appears to be the shippers. The networks are quite different in their design, hence offering a more diverse range of products to choose from,” Jensen said in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday.
