A major upheaval is in preparation in the world of shipping alliances, which have not been substantially modified since 2017. The three main alliances currently bring together 10 major global shipping companies. From February 2025 on, however, they will be organised differently.
Data source: shipping companies - © Upply
To measure the effect of this redistribution on ports, we have analysed the services announced so far by the new alliances to find out which ports loose and which gain from February 2025 on. To do this, we have compared the services offered by the 10 shipping companies which make up the three alliances in 2024 with those they plan to provide in 2025. Certainly, MSC is no longer in an alliance, but we have opted to include it in our panorama, given the importance of its presence on the routes we are concerned with. Moreover, MSC and Premier Alliance announced in September that they would be cooperating on Asia-Europe routes.
Overall, the alliances will offer more services from February 2025 on. The different shipping companies have decided to increase the number of joint services they offer, which will increase from 17 to 24 between Asia and Europe and from 9 to 17 - virtually double - between Asia and the Mediterranean. There will be seven additional transpacific services, taking the total to 54. The number of transatlantic services has already increased, even though Premier Alliance members have yet to issue their sailing schedules for this market.
Data source: shipping companies – NA: not available - © Upply
The list of these services does not take account of the agreements that the shipping companies can negotiate with other partners on these lines. For example, ZIM has announced that it has concluded an agreement which will enable it to take slots on services. Moreover, the alliance companies have kept some of their east-west operations outside the scope of their alliance agreements. Hapag Lloyd, for example, will be operating six services outside Gemini.