Maersk and the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) are embracing diverging strategies after breaking up a decade-long 2M alliance, Bloomberg reports.

MSC is going solo: MSC is adopting a traditional approach as it goes solo in the sector. This approach will see the company — which controls over 20% of the world’s container capacity — adopt more direct port calls as it serves major trade routes, with 12 port calls earmarked for its solo network. The company has been on a shopping spree since 2021, purchasing 405 vessels, Bloomberg reported, citing data from Alphaliner. This brings its fleet to 886 vessels, with another 132 on order.

Maersk has a new partner and approach: Maersk — with 14% of world’s container capacity — formed the Gemini Alliance with the Hamburg-based giant Hapag-Lloyd AG, which will focus on boosting schedule reliability by 90%. Maersk hopes that focusing on being on time will free up some capacity, allowing the company to move more tonnages each ear and clinch a bigger market share as a result. However, the success of the new approach — which will focus less on direct port calls and more on hubs controlled by the two companies — depends on the alliance’s ability to manage more, shorter trips smoothly.

Targeting terminal investments: Maersk funneled about USD 3 bn investments into expanding several port terminals that would act as hubs in its new approach, such as Netherlands’ Rotterdam and Morocco’s Tangier. It hopes that the investments and the new operational strategy will allow the alliance to increase containers’ movement in several of these hubs by 30%, Maersk Chief Product Officer Johan Sigsgaard told journalists in a webinar, according to Seatrade Maritime. “We’ve expanded in Port Said, Tangiers, we’re expanding in Rotterdam, Salalah is getting new cranes and bigger capacity,” Sigsgaard said.

Inspired by Amazon: The model adopted by the Gemini Alliance is similar to a delivery distribution model popularized by Amazon called the “hub-and-spoke” model. In this model, a distributor would place warehouses, or ports in this case, in strategic locations to act as a central node for multiple end-delivery locations, allowing for more flexibility and efficiency.

Looking forward: MSC has “a very good shot at being successful in operating their own line the traditional way,” especially because cargo owners have traditionally preferred direct routes with fewer stops, the global co-leader of logistics and transportation at AlixPartners Brian Nemeth told Bloomberg. On the other hand, Gemini faces the challenge of proving a new concept in a commoditized service industry. “History will be the witness,” Hapag-Lloyd’s senior managing director of network Anders Boenaes told Bloomberg.

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