Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd Reshuffle Gemini's Asia–Europe Network

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are preparing a significant reshuffle of the Gemini network, with changes to Asia–Europe services that will alter direct port connections across Northern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

The two carriers, which operate the Gemini Cooperation launched in 2025, are reworking which ports keep direct mainline calls and which lose them. For shippers, the stakes are simple: a direct call means shorter transit and simpler routing; losing one means feeder legs, extra days and added cost.

What is changing?

The reshuffle touches all three European gateway regions on the Asia–Europe trade — Northern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Gemini's hub-and-spoke model, built around a small number of large transshipment centers feeding shuttle services, means network decisions made by the two carriers cascade directly into port-level winners and losers.

Ports that retain direct mainline connections keep their transit-time advantage on Asia traffic. Ports dropped to feeder status inherit an extra leg, extra handling and extra scheduling risk — the classic trade-off of hub-and-spoke operations, delivered now to specific European gateways.

Why does it matter for shippers and forwarders?

Gemini has sold itself on schedule reliability, and its network design concentrates volume through hubs to protect that promise. Each reshuffle forces cargo owners to rebook around the new port map. That is commercial friction: inland routings shift, cut-off times move, and procurement contracts referencing specific ports of loading need review.

For carriers, the calculus is utilization. Fewer direct calls, tighter hub feeds and higher volumes per call keep vessel fill rates high — the mechanism Gemini has used to run its reliability-focused model since launch.

For ports and terminals, the stakes are asymmetric. One carrier decision can swing hundreds of thousands of TEU a year at a single gateway, and Gemini's concentrated architecture amplifies that effect compared with looser alliances of the past.

What comes next?

Details of the specific ports gaining or losing calls sit behind Container News' premium paywall, and carriers have yet to publish the full revised schedules. Shippers with Asia–Europe exposure should watch two things: the confirmation of the revised port rotations, and the effective date of the switch, before re-papering routings.

Once the revised network is live, the market will get a fresh read on whether Gemini's reliability-first design can absorb a reshuffle of this scale without denting the schedule performance the cooperation was built to sell.