Maersk brings back another shipping service through Suez, but wider return remains distant

Shipping companies Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd moved another major Asia–Europe container service through the Suez Canal, marking a further step in the gradual return of shipping to the route.

The AE19 service, operated jointly under the companies’ Gemini Cooperation, connects Asia, the Mediterranean, Saudi Arabia and Europe. It had previously been sailing around the Cape of Good Hope.

The two carriers announced on Monday that the change would take effect immediately, beginning with the westbound voyage of the Berlin Maersk.

Hapag-Lloyd told Euronews that the AE19 switch is expected to save around four weeks compared with sailing around the Cape of Good Hope.

Maersk said the decision followed an assessment of security conditions in the Red Sea. Hapag-Lloyd described it as a “targeted adjustment for one selected service, not a general network-wide return”.

Hapag-Lloyd said any further routing decisions would depend on security, whether the route was operationally viable and the impact on customers.

The Danish shipping group told Euronews that AE19 is one of four services it has moved from the Cape of Good Hope to Suez since early July. The others are AE15, MECL and WAF6.

Maersk told Euronews that nine other services which could benefit from using the Red Sea and Suez route continue to sail around the Cape, but said it could not comment on potential future changes.

Shipping analysts also say the return of a handful of services should not be mistaken for a broader return to the canal.

Simon Heaney, senior manager for container research at maritime consultancy Drewry, told Euronews that the pace of Suez traffic's recovery remains closely tied to how the Strait of Hormuz crisis and the wider conflict in the Middle East play out.

“While the latter remains unresolved, we do not expect to see a meaningful return of Asia-to-Europe loops via Suez,” he said.

Why the return will be gradual

Even if security conditions improve, shipping companies are unlikely to move all their services back through Suez at once.

Heaney said the return would probably happen in stages, beginning with journeys from Europe that generally carry lower-value cargo. Carriers would need confidence that hostilities would not resume before committing more valuable shipments to the route.

There is also a commercial reason for moving slowly.

Sailing around Africa requires more ships because each journey takes longer. If many services switch back to Suez at once, those ships would be freed up just as carriers are already taking delivery of large numbers of new vessels.

“Carriers have to manage capacity wisely due to the large number of new ships being delivered,” Heaney said. “Shortening rotations en masse will see rates slide dramatically.”

For European importers, this means the benefits of returning to Suez are unlikely to arrive all at once. A few restored services may offer shorter journeys on selected routes, but normal transit times across the wider network will not return immediately.

An important route for Egypt and Europe

The Suez Canal provides the shortest maritime connection between Asia and Europe, avoiding the much longer journey around the Cape of Good Hope.

The diversions have added time and fuel costs to voyages while depriving Egypt of an important source of foreign currency.

The Suez Canal Authority has repeatedly sought to encourage shipping companies to return. In June, its chairman, Admiral Osama Rabie, said shorter transit times and operating savings were helping to attract some of the world’s largest container vessels back to the canal.

He made the comments as the CMA CGM Vendôme, which has capacity for 24,000 twenty-foot containers, passed through Suez on a service between Asia and north-western Europe.

The voyage marked the first southbound Suez transit by the FAL 3 service since January. According to the authority, vessels operated by France’s CMA CGM made 104 journeys through the canal between January and May, with a total tonnage of 12.5 million tonnes.

The return of several services offers early signs of renewed traffic through Suez, but both Hapag-Lloyd and Drewry say AE19 does not yet signal a wider return.