Three Ocean Networks due to become Four

2M Alliance members, Maersk & MSC, recently confirmed that they be will ending their vessel sharing arrangements in 2025 and are set to proceed as standalone carriers.

Since the original announcement last month, the intentions of the world’s biggest two carriers, that have been collaborating since 2015, have become clearer.

Originally, it looked like we would be seeing a shake up of the global alliances in the coming months, with the assumption that they may be seeking alternative partnerships.

However, it now appears that both organisations are planning to go forward as standalone carriers, operating their own networks. This suggests we will be moving to four global ocean networks instead of three, with no immediate changes expected for ‘The Alliance’ or the ‘Ocean Alliance’.

Maersk Line’s CEO pretty much confirmed the above recently, when stating “Today there are three major networks, in the future there will be four.”

While the carriers are officially due to split in 2025, it is believed that they will be working towards their own goals from now, meaning we could see changes on some routes from next year, or maybe even later this year.

The set up of three global alliances has been in place since the aftermath of Hanjin going bust, which caused the market a great deal of pain back in 2016/7.

Simarco’s ocean freight team are following these developments with great interest.