by Manal Barakat, SeaNewsEditor

According to a press release published today, the three Asian carriers, Ocean Network Express (ONE), HMM and Yang Ming, have entered into a new cooperation agreement under the new alliance name Premier Alliance.

The Premier Alliance will be effective five years from February 2025, the date of Hapag-Lloyd’s exit from the THE Alliance and the start of its cooperation with Maersk under the Gemini Cooperation.

ONE reports that the cooperation comprises mainline services across the major East - West tradelines: Asia - North America West Coast, Asia - North America East Coast, Asia - Mediterranean, Asia - North Europe, and Asia - Middle East.

Jeremy Nixon, CEO of ONE, said, “Collectively, this new tripartite alliance will offer strong, reliable and highly dependable end-to-end direct port container services to its customers on both the Transpacific and Asia-Europe trades.”

In a separate announcement, MSC - which is set to exit its 2M alliance with Maersk – revealed that it will collaborate with the Premier Alliance on the Asia-Europe trade route.

The Swiss-based carrier did not elaborate further on the nature of this collaboration but mentioned that its slot exchange with the Premier Alliance will be effective from February 2025 onwards.