When Pressure Sparks Progress
One unconventional idea resets a hub pushed to its limits
When operations are running smoothly, innovation can feel optional. But under pressure, it becomes essential.
In Tangier, Morocco, one of the Mediterranean’s busiest transshipment hubs, that pressure sparked a bold idea that helped unclog mounting congestion – not by adding new infrastructure, but by adopting a novel approach to inter-terminal container transfers.
At the center of the story was Maria Francesca Zuddas (Western Mediterranean Hub Manager), who manages the flow of vessels and containers through one of Hapag-Lloyd’s central port locations in the Gemini network.
When the security situation in the Red Sea became increasingly tense starting in December 2023 due to the Houthi rebel attacks on commercial vessels, major shipping lines were left with no (safe) choice but to reroute traffic around the Cape of Good Hope. As a result, the Moroccan port of Tangier – all the way on the other end of the Mediterranean – became a hotspot for global shipping overnight.
“It was like a garage built for five cars – and suddenly 50 were parked inside,” Francesca recalls. As Hub Manager, she suddenly faced traffic volumes no one had planned for.
The weakest link in the chain was the transfer of containers between terminals. Tangier’s terminals – called TC1, TC3 and TC4 – sit only a few kilometers apart, but moving containers between them relied heavily on truck transfers. Each day, hundreds of trucks crawled through the port area – driving up costs, piling up delays and stretching dwell times into weeks. “We knew this was not sustainable,” Francesca says. “Accepting the congestion was never an option, so we had to rethink the way we were operating.”
Maria Francesca Zuddas, Western Mediterranean Hub Manager at Hapag-Lloyd
Mainliner Vessel
Large vessel on long-haul routes linking major global hub ports.
Shuttle Vessel
Vessel operating short regional loops between selected hub ports.
Feeder Vessel
Smaller vessel connecting regional ports with major hub ports.
Mainliner Vessel
Large vessel on long-haul routes linking major global hub ports.
Shuttle Vessel
Vessel operating short regional loops between selected hub ports.
Feeder Vessel
Smaller vessel connecting regional ports with major hub ports.
That alternative emerged with the launch of the Gemini Cooperation: four terminals in and near Tangier were now part of a single connected system. This prompted Francesca and her colleagues to ask a provocative question: Why not use the vessels as shuttles between terminals? Mainliners already calling at multiple terminals could serve as short-distance shuttles – carrying containers from one stop to the next as part of their normal rotations. “It sounded almost too simple, and we’d never done it before,” Francesca admits. “But, with Gemini, it suddenly became possible.”
Turning the idea into reality required lots of coordinating with partners, testing processes and clarifying responsibilities. Yet once the system was in place, its impact was immediate and dramatic. Average dwell times dropped from weeks to at most four days. Each container moved by vessel instead of truck saved around $50. Customers noticed more reliable schedules, and daily operations were smoother for teams on the ground.
For Francesca, the most meaningful shift was human. “Trust grew on the pier as much as in the planning tools,” she says. “It felt chaotic at first. But, later, my garage was humming like a Ferrari.”
Photos by: Hapag-Lloyd AG
Text by: Hanja Maria Richter, Anne Krege
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