The “Gemini Cooperation”, which will be launched in February next year, will avoid the Red Sea for the foreseeable future.
The Hamburg-based shipping company Hapag-Lloyd announced that the safety of seafarers is the top priority. Instead, it will use the “Cape Network” together with its future alliance partner Maersk.
At the beginning of September, the company announced its intention to offer two options for 2025. However, due to the ongoing attacks by the Houthi rebels on merchant ships, the Red Sea will not be safe in the foreseeable future, meaning that operations will be conducted exclusively via the Cape Network. Only when the situation has calmed down again and there is no danger to seafarers will ports in the Red Sea catchment area be used again.
Gemini has a capacity of 3.7 million TEU
The route around the Cape of Good Hope means a high logistical effort for Gemini, which is why the pool of ships has been increased. A total of 340 container ships with a total capacity of 3.7 million TEU are now planned for Gemini’s global network – this corresponds to more than a tenth of the total volume worldwide.
The new alliance between Hapag-Lloyd and the Danish shipping company Maersk will be one of the biggest players in container shipping from next year. Together, the shipping companies – Hapag-Lloyd as the world’s No. 5, Maersk as No. 2 – would be able to catch up with their competitor and industry giant MSC. The latter, in turn, has entered into a partnership with the “Premiere Alliance” of the Asian shipping companies ONE, HMM and Yang Ming.
