On September 9th, Ocean Network Shipping (ONE), HMM, and Yangming Shipping jointly announced that they will continue to work closely together in the form of an alliance, named Premier Alliance, which will take effect from February 2025 and be valid for five years.
The cooperation of the alliance involves the mainline services of major east-west trade routes, including Asia North America West Coast, Asia North America East Coast, Asia Mediterranean, Asia Nordic, and Asia Middle East.
Regarding the establishment of Premier Alliance, all three shipping companies have shared their views and development visions on this new cooperation on their official websites.
Jeremy Nixon, CEO of ONE, said, "We are pleased to announce that our strategic partnership with HMM and Yangming Shipping on the east-west trade route will be further extended. Starting from February 2025, the existing close network cooperation between the three companies will be further enhanced on the basis of this new cooperation. This new tripartite alliance will jointly provide highly reliable end-to-end container services for customers engaged in trans Pacific and Asia Europe trade.
HMM CEO Kyung Bae Kim said, "We are pleased to continue our alliance cooperation with ONE and Yangming Shipping, which demonstrates the long-term partnership between the three companies, both now and in the future. We believe that through the close cooperation of Premier Alliance, we will provide a stable and competitive service network for customers in East West trade.
Yangming Shipping Chairman Cai Fengming said, "The continued cooperation with HMM and ONE not only reflects the deep trust and shared vision of the three companies in the industry, but also demonstrates our commitment to providing customers with tremendous value and extensive coverage. Through Premier Alliance cooperation, Yangming will continue to drive innovation, improve service quality, and provide customers with more competitive solutions. We are confident in the future and look forward to achieving greater success together.
At the same time, Premier Alliance has also reached a cabin exchange cooperation with the world's largest shipping company, MSC. This cooperation will take effect from February 2025 and cover trade routes between Asia Nordic and Asia Mediterranean. This cooperation involves 9 airline services. Through this collaboration, these shipping companies will provide a wider coverage of direct ports and increase the frequency of services between Asia and Europe.
In addition, Maersk and Hapag Lloyd have been exceptionally active in the rental market recently, both leasing multiple container ships. According to analysis, these two shipping companies are preparing for the upcoming launch of the Gemini Alliance (Gemini Cooperation Program) in February next year.
Prior to this, ONE, HMM, Yangming Shipping, and Hapag Lloyd were all members of THE Alliance. In January 2024, Hapag Lloyd announced a long-term partnership operation plan with Maersk for the "Twin Stars" and will withdraw from the THE alliance. Now, ONE, HMM, and Yangming Shipping have formed a new shipping alliance called Premier Alliance, which will further change the global shipping alliance landscape.
