Major liners resume Suez transits on Asia-Europe services

· Shipping · Taiwan · Germany

All mainline container carriers look set to resume Suez Canal transits for their Asia–North Europe and Asia–Mediterranean services. Evergreen will join its Ocean Alliance partners in restarting Suez crossings this week, while Yang Ming and HMM will follow their Premier Alliance partners. On the Gemini side, the ME1/IOS India–North Europe loop is shifting to Suez routing; all vessels on that loop are operated by Hapag-Lloyd, which observers see as a sign of a broader reassessment of Red Sea risk. The shift reverses the long detour around the Cape of Good Hope that carriers adopted as Red Sea attacks made the corridor unsafe, shortening transit times and freeing vessel capacity. It also depends on continued stability in the Red Sea, where traffic has been rising.

Why it matters：A return to Suez would cut voyage times and absorb excess capacity, reshaping Asia–Europe freight rates and scheduling for shippers and ports alike.

Key points

  • Evergreen joins Ocean Alliance partners restarting Suez transits this week
  • Yang Ming and HMM follow Premier Alliance partners back to Suez
  • ME1/IOS loop vessels are all operated by Hapag-Lloyd

Sources (original reporting)

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