Container Shipping Giants Maersk, MSC to End Alliance from 2025

Container shipping firms MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Maersk have mutually agreed to terminate, effective in January 2025, their 2M alliance.

2M is a container shipping line vessel sharing agreement (VSA) introduced in 2015 " with the aim of ensuring competitive and cost-efficient operations on the Asia-Europe, Transatlantic and Transpacific trades."

In a joint statement on Wednesday, CEO Vincent Clerc of A. P. Moller - Maersk, and CEO Soren Toft of MSC said:“MSC and Maersk recognize that much has changed since the two companies signed the 10-year agreement in 2015. Discontinuing the 2M alliance paves the way for both companies to continue to pursue their individual strategies."

We have very much appreciated the partnership and look forward to a continued strong collaboration throughout the remainder of the agreement period. We remain fully committed to delivering on the 2M alliance’s services to customers of MSC and Maersk.”

Maersk said that the announcement had no immediate impact on the services provided to customers using the 2M trades. 

"Each company’s customer teams will communicate with their respective clients to support during, and beyond, the phase-out of the 2M alliance," Maersk said.