A shipper’s view: Maersk/Hapag, the Red Sea crisis, CNY and freight rate strategy

In this episode, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King has an in-depth discussion with Bjorn Vang Jensen, Executive Director for International Transport at American multinational Cummins, on all things shipping and supply chain. They discuss what the Gemini Cooperation agreement between Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk means for the remaining THE Alliance container lines – Yang Ming, ONE and HMM – and whether 90% service reliability is a realistic target for the new partnership. They also analyse the Red Sea crisis and how to plan and adapt to disrupted supply chains. And they discuss what shippers should expect in the lead-in to Chinese New Year factory closures, and what geopolitical conflict and risk means for the future of globalisation, international trade and liner strategy. More on Bjorn Vang Jensen: Bjorn has experience of all sides of the freight business. Until just over a year ago, he was one of container shipping’s best analysts as VP Advisory Services for Global Supply Chain at Sea-Intelligence Advisory Services. He’s also been a vessel scheduling manager, a salesperson, a freight forwarder and a 3PL. On the BCO side of the fence, prior to taking the reins at Cummins, he was global head of logistics at Electrolux for 16 years during which time he was responsible for moving millions of TEU and hundreds of thousands of tons of airfreight.