Book a container with Hapag-Lloyd and there is a fair chance it loads onto a Maersk vessel. That is not a mix-up, it is how liner shipping works. Carriers pool their ships through alliances and vessel sharing agreements (VSAs), so the company you book with and the ship that physically carries your box are often two different ones. Your contract, your Bill Of Lading and your point of contact stay with the carrier you booked; the steel underneath is shared. Knowing who sails with whom tells you a lot about transit times, port rotations and what your options really are on a given lane.
The three alliances, plus MSC
Since February 2025 the deep-sea east-west trades (Asia–Europe, transpacific, transatlantic) are divided over three alliances and one very large independent. The previous 2M alliance (MSC + Maersk) ended in early 2025; if you still see it mentioned somewhere, that page is out of date.
- Gemini Cooperation: Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, operational since 1 February 2025. A hub-and-spoke network: big mainline vessels call fewer ports, dedicated shuttles connect the hubs to the rest. Roughly 340 vessels, and a stated target of over 90% schedule reliability.
- Ocean Alliance: CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping (including OOCL) and Evergreen. The largest alliance by capacity, with a classic direct-call network and the agreement extended to 2032.
- Premier Alliance: ONE, HMM and Yang Ming. The continuation of THE Alliance after Hapag-Lloyd left for Gemini, running from February 2025 for five years. On Asia–Europe the three exchange slots with MSC.
- MSC: the world's largest carrier by a wide margin sails its own east-west network standalone. It is big enough to fill its own ships, and it still does slot deals where useful: with the Premier carriers on Asia–Europe and with ZIM on the transpacific.
For you as a shipper the alliance choice is not cosmetic. Each network has its own port rotation and its own transhipment pattern, so transit time on the same lane differs between a Gemini, Ocean and Premier sailing. What never changes: the B/L is issued by the carrier you booked, and claims, releases and customer service run through that carrier, whichever partner's vessel did the sailing.
The carriers
Ranking follows the Alphaliner Top 100 by operated capacity. Deliberately no service-by-service detail here: liner networks are reshuffled every quarter, so check the routing with the carrier (or with us) at booking time, not against a schedule from last year.
| Carrier | Country | Alliance | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSC | Switzerland | Standalone | Worldwide, largest fleet; own east-west network plus deep regional coverage |
| Maersk | Denmark | Gemini Cooperation | Worldwide; east-west hub-and-spoke shared with Hapag-Lloyd |
| CMA CGM | France | Ocean Alliance | Worldwide; group brands ANL (Oceania), CNC (intra-Asia), Containerships (intra-Europe) |
| COSCO Shipping Lines | China | Ocean Alliance | Worldwide; OOCL (Hong Kong) sails within the same group |
| Hapag-Lloyd | Germany | Gemini Cooperation | Worldwide; east-west network shared with Maersk |
| ONE (Ocean Network Express) | Japan (HQ Singapore) | Premier Alliance | Worldwide east-west; merger of the NYK, MOL and K Line container arms |
| Evergreen | Taiwan | Ocean Alliance | Worldwide |
| HMM | South Korea | Premier Alliance | East-west trades; strong on transpacific and Asia–Europe |
| Yang Ming | Taiwan | Premier Alliance | East-west plus a solid intra-Asia leg |
| ZIM | Israel | Independent (MSC cooperation on transpacific) | Global niche carrier; expedited transpacific and e-commerce services |
| Wan Hai | Taiwan | Independent | Intra-Asia backbone, plus transpacific and Middle East/India services |
| PIL (Pacific International Lines) | Singapore | Independent | Asia–Africa, Middle East, Latin America, Oceania |
| SITC | China | Independent | Intra-Asia specialist |
| KMTC | South Korea | Independent | Intra-Asia |
| TS Lines | Taiwan | Independent | Intra-Asia and Oceania |
| Matson | United States | Independent | Transpacific express (China–Long Beach), Hawaii, Alaska, Pacific islands |
A note on brands within the groups. OOCL kept its own name, fleet and booking desk after COSCO acquired it, so you can book either and end up in the same alliance network. CMA CGM runs ANL, CNC and Containerships as regional brands. Hamburg Süd went the other way: absorbed into Maersk and the brand retired in 2023, so anything still quoting Hamburg Süd is Maersk in practice.
Shortsea and feeders: the European layer
The Alphaliner top ranks are about deep-sea trades, but a box moving Rotterdam–Dublin or Izmir–Rotterdam sails with a different set of names. Two flavours exist side by side. Feeder operators carry containers on behalf of the deep-sea carriers, under the deep-sea carrier's B/L, between hub ports and smaller ports. Shortsea carriers sell their own intra-European product directly to the market. Several do both.
| Operator | Country | Role | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unifeeder | Denmark (DP World group) | Feeder + shortsea | North Europe, Baltic, expanding into the Med |
| X-Press Feeders | Singapore | Feeder | Largest independent common feeder operator worldwide; dense European network |
| Samskip | Netherlands/Iceland (Rotterdam) | Shortsea + multimodal | North Europe, UK/Ireland, Iberia, Iceland |
| BG Freight Line | Netherlands (Rotterdam, Peel Ports group) | Feeder + shortsea | Irish Sea, UK and continental North Europe |
| Arkas | Turkey | Shortsea | Mediterranean, Black Sea, North Africa |
| Grimaldi | Italy | RoRo + container | Europe–West Africa, Europe–South America, intra-Med |
For Dutch importers and exporters this layer matters more than it looks: a deep-sea container to or from a smaller European port usually rides a feeder for its last sea leg, invisible on your B/L but very visible when a feeder misses its connection at the hub.
What this means when you book
Price and transit on the same lane differ per alliance, and the sharpest carrier on Asia–Rotterdam is rarely the sharpest on Rotterdam–New York. Spreading bookings across alliances also spreads your risk when one network hits congestion. Whatever ship your container ends up on, the carrier on your booking owns the B/L, the release at the port systems and the conversation when something goes sideways. And since networks shift every quarter, treat any printed schedule as a snapshot.
Carriers also set their own cargo policies on top of the rules. Several lines refuse certain commodities outright, often waste streams: CMA CGM stopped carrying plastic scrap (HS 3915) worldwide, and other lines restrict waste paper (HS 4707) and ferrous scrap (HS 7204). Always check the carrier's policy, and the waste-shipment rules, before booking those HS codes.
Nexport Logistics forwards under the FENEX conditions and is carrier-neutral: we book Sea Freight with all the major lines and pick per lane on rate, transit and reliability, not on habit. You follow the sailing in the Nexportal portal whichever carrier wins the booking. Want to know which network fits your lane this quarter? Email info@nexportlogistics.nl.
Sources: Alphaliner Top 100 · Hapag-Lloyd — Gemini Cooperation launches operations · Maersk — East-West network · CMA CGM Group — Ocean Alliance extended until 2032 · FMC — Premier Alliance agreement taking effect · ZIM — operational cooperation with MSC. Related: Sea Freight · Bill Of Lading · Port Community Systems · Evoa Waste Shipment · Demurrage Detention