Two new alliances —Gemini CooperationundPremier Alliance——To be born in 2025, both alliances have now launched their own new networks. In addition, the Mediterranean Shipping CompanyIt has been clearly stated that it will operate as an independent carrier, although it did have some cabin swaps with Premier Alliance on Eurasian routes and some cabin swaps with ZIM on Pacific to US East Coast routes.
What do shippers expect from the trans-Pacific service provided by global alliance carriers? Below is a deeper understanding of the services offered by Gemini, Premier, Ocean Alliance, and MSC, based on the assumption that the Red Sea crisis will not be resolved in early 2025, and on the assumption that Ocean Alliance will maintain the same network it currently offers, the last assumption being that the Ocean Alliance has not yet released any new 2025 Web Design.
The alliance network includes 24 ports of origin in Asia and 27 destinations in North America, distributed in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Panama and Colombia, so this achieves 648 different ports-port combinations; however, only 266 of them have direct service, and the remaining ports Need to provide service via forwarding.
But what are the most convenient ports connecting Asia and North America? IT TURNS OUT THAT THE SEAMLESSLY CONNECTED PORT IS YONTA TO SAVANNAH, AND OF THE 62 FLIGHTS OFFERED BY THE CARRIER ALLIANCE, THERE WILL BE 9 DIRECT FLIGHTS PER WEEK TO YONTA AND SAVANNAH. Note that for convenience, even though the MSC has only one member it is still called an alliance.
THERE WILL BE EIGHT DIRECT FLIGHTS PER WEEK FROM FOUR PORTS: NINGBO - LOS ANGELES/LONG BEACH, SHANGHAI - LOS ANGELES/LB, VUNG TAU - LA/LB AND SHANGHAI TO SAVANNAH. In addition, there are seven direct sailings per week to six ports. All in all, this means that by 2025 there will be basically 11 connected services per day. All four alliances offer the Yoda to Savannah route, which means there will be intense direct competition, but this is not the only route directly served by all four alliances, it is only one of the largest number of services per week, with a total of 36 different connection points and will be provided directly by four affiliates Service. Therefore, from a destination perspective, Los Angeles/Long Beach will be the most directly serviced by the four alliances in Yantian, Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan and Vung Tau, followed by New York-New Jersey, with the exception of Qingdao, all four alliances will offer direct access from these ports Service.
From a starting point of view, all four alliances offer nonstop service from Shanghai to the following nine destinations: Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Vancouver, New York-New Jersey, Norfolk, Savannah, Charleston, Mobile, and Houston. As the port of origin, Yoda will provide eight direct destination ports serviced by all the affiliated shipping companies, while Ningbo will provide seven such connection points.
But that does not mean that all alliances choose to serve only the same port routes. Of these four networks, 139 port combinations are serviced by just one alliance, while the other will be served by forwarding, meaning that the new network design will provide shippers with ample choice, ensuring strong competitive pressure between carriers. It is clear that the 36 ports served by all alliances will compete favorably with all operators offering the same connection point, although their transit times are slightly different and the level of reliability on time may differ, as well as the tendency for empty flights.
This is a competitive advantage for 139 ports served directly by only one alliance and the other ports using transit services. Whether this differentiation can guarantee higher freight rates or a larger share of the shipper business remains to be seen. But one thing can be clearly seen from the new network design: Alliance and independent MSCs seem to already have business considerations for service delivery concepts, and these concepts do differ greatly from each other.
