For over three decades, the established practice within container shipping alliances has been strictly focused on the major, deep-sea routes. The operational model has consistently involved the alliance members collaborating on these primary trunk lines, while each carrier within the alliance independently managed and operated its network of feeder services, reports Container News.
Hub and Spoke Model
Sea-Intelligence has observed that the recently established Gemini Cooperation has adopted a distinct strategy for its alliance network design. This new approach incorporates a hub-and-spoke model directly within the formal alliance structure. This design involves fewer direct calls by mainline vessels at various ports and a greater emphasis on cargo transshipment using dedicated shuttle services.
The two partners in the Gemini Cooperation, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, have announced that their shuttle network will eventually comprise 28 individual shuttle services. As of February 2025, 15 of these shuttle services have already been implemented. Geographically, ten of these initial shuttle services are operating within Asia, two in Europe, and three in the Indian Subcontinent/Middle East region.
Impressively, the overall schedule reliability for these Gemini shuttle services in February 2025 was reported to be 98.4%. Notably, the Sea-Intelligence report highlighted that all but two of the deployed shuttle services, specifically the A04 and A09 services (both operating in Asia), achieved a perfect 100% schedule reliability during that month.
Performance Test
While the initial performance of the Gemini Cooperation’s shuttle network in February 2025 shows high schedule reliability, the true assessment of the new alliances, including MSC’s independent network, will occur once they are fully implemented in July 2025.
According to Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence, a Danish maritime data analysis firm, the initial phase of the roll-out is typically less demanding, as only a limited number of vessels are integrated into the new network. The subsequent months of the roll-out are traditionally more complex, with a larger number of vessels being phased in simultaneously.
The Sea-Intelligence report also points out that the February 2025 schedule reliability data is only available for 15 of the 28 planned Gemini shuttle services. Although the number of arrivals for these 15 services is considerable, only a small portion of the European shuttle services had commenced operations by February. This suggests that the full operational complexity and performance of the Gemini network, as well as the other new network configurations, will only be fully evident after the comprehensive roll-out in July 2025.
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Source: Container News
