The container ship “Charm C” is the first ship from the Gemini Alliance to be handled in Gothenburg.
The new feeder service will now operate weekly between the Swedish port city and Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven. The alliance promises a high level of punctuality.
In the German ports, the cargo is reloaded onto ocean-going vessels and then transported to Asia, including the Middle East and India, as well as North America. The Gemini services will use a “hub-and-spoke” concept, calling at fewer ports directly but instead relying on “hubs” from where the cargo is distributed further by feeder ships. With this approach, the partners Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd want to create a more efficient global container service that improves punctuality on the one hand and reduces disruptions on the other.
“This collaboration represents the biggest change in container shipping for many years,” said Claes Sundmark, Vice President Sales & Marketing at Port of Gothenburg. “Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd’s Gemini system is a new and interesting system with high ambitions for customers in the import and export industry. The Port of Gothenburg is the only Swedish port involved in the new service. It is positive and logical that the shipping companies continue to invest in Gothenburg as a hub for the Scandinavian market.”
The “Charm C” has a capacity of 2,500 TEU and will operate a weekly service between the APM terminals of the ports of Gothenburg, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven.
Gemini to offer added value for customers
“With the new transport structure, we want to offer the industry a frequent and high-quality service and thus further increase our delivery reliability. We have full confidence in the Gemini system and are convinced that our customers in Sweden and worldwide will benefit from it,” says Birna Odefors, Area MD Scandinavia at Maersk.
Kristoffer Hellstrand, Country Manager at Hapag-Lloyd (Sweden), said: “We are now taking an important step forward, and the collaboration within Gemini enables us to create even greater added value for our customers. With the new structure, we can utilize both our own and partner terminals and vessels, resulting in a more stable and efficient system with fewer disruptions and delays.”
Maersk has also introduced two separate services between Gothenburg-Bremerhaven and Gothenburg-Bremerhaven-Hamburg-Gdansk. Three ships with a capacity of up to 6,000 TEU are deployed on these services.
In total, the Gemini Cooperation between the two major shipping companies has a capacity of 3.7 million TEU and 340 ships – 60% provided by Maersk and 40% by Hapag-Lloyd. The alliance, which was launched in February 2025, will offer 29 intercontinental services and 28 regional connections once it has been fully implemented.
