The Gemini Cooperation – the new alliance for 2025 between Maersk and Hapag Lloyd – has not received approval for operating within the US after the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) requested more information last week about its competitive nature.
The two carriers are the 2nd and 5th biggest carriers in the world and will collectively be offering a vessel sharing capacity of over 6 million TEU’s, which will effectively be the biggest network when the 2025 alliance shake up takes place.
The agreement between the carriers is due to be effective from this month, with operational functions getting started from February. However, the FMC seem to have thrown a spanner in the works and stated “The commission has determined that the Gemini Cooperation agreement as submitted lacks sufficient detail to allow for a complete analysis of its potential competitive impacts”.
The delay in receiving approval is a setback, but the FMC are not ruling out the sanctioning of Gemini, adding: “Re-consideration of the agreement will not commence until the commission has received a fully compliant response to its enquiry.”
Next year’s alliance reshuffle was instigated when Maersk and MSC confirmed their 10-year agreement as the 2M alliance would come to an end in 2025. All subsequent communication suggested that both carriers were planning to operate within their own independent networks, which seemed a logical step for the two biggest carriers.
However, late last year, Maersk and Hapag Lloyd surprised the shipping industry when confirming their Gemini Cooperation, especially since the latter was an existing member of THEA (THE Alliance).
