In anticipation of the termination of the 2M Vessel Sharing Agreement with Maersk in January 2025, MSC is significantly increasing its standalone capacity on key East-West routes. As of August 9, the Geneva-based carrier has expanded its independent operations on the Asia-North America and Far East-Europe routes, bringing its non-2M fleet capacity on these trades to 733,000 TEU, representing 33.2% of its total capacity.
MSC’s recent launches of new services, including the China-Korea-Long Beach ‘Mustang’ service and the China-Vietnam-UK ‘Britannia’ service, are expected to further boost its standalone capacity to 921,000 TEU, increasing its share on these routes to 38.4%. With these expansions, MSC will operate a total fleet capacity of 2.4 million TEU on Asia-North America and Far East-Europe, close to the combined capacity of 2.6 million TEU held by Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd.
Hapag-Lloyd is also increasing its market presence outside of its current alliance, THE Alliance. The German carrier’s non-alliance capacity now stands at 15.4%, boosted by the launch of the Far East-North Europe ‘China Germany Express’ in June 2024.
Meanwhile, other carriers remain largely committed to their existing alliances, with limited standalone operations on East-West routes.
Sources: MSC, Hapag Lloyd, Alphaliner.
