More liners weigh Suez return as Maersk traffic rises

Container liners OOCL and Yang Ming are considering a return to the Suez Canal. Maersk and CMA CGM continue transiting the waterway despite instability in the Red Sea region.

IMAGE: Two different shipping routes from Singapore to Rotterdam. The shorter one runs via the Suez Canal, the longer around the Cape of Good Hope. ENGINE

Hong Kong-based OOCL is planning a test voyage through the Suez Canal in October as the shipping company considers returning to the waterway amid geopolitical instability in the Red Sea region, according to the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

OOCL’s planned transit was disclosed by maritime agency Inchcape during a meeting between the SCA and representatives of 20 major shipping lines and agencies.

Taiwanese shipping line Yang Ming is also considering resuming Suez transits, its representative said, without confirming the timeline.

Meanwhile, Danish shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk has recorded a rise in canal traffic, with 67 transits in September this year compared with eight in the same month last year, according to its Middle East and North Africa representative Hany El Nady.

Maersk expects its annual transits to reach 278 “in the future”, although no specific timeframe was provided.

French shipping line CMA CGM has maintained its presence on the route throughout the Red Sea crisis. So far in September, 60 of its vessels have transited the canal, according to Tarek Zaghloul, the group's chief executive in Egypt and Sudan.

SCA chairman Ossama Rabiee attributed the recovery in traffic to the authority's efforts to attract shipping companies through “flexible pricing policies” and direct engagement.

Security threats in the Red Sea have led shipping companies to reroute vessels around Africa's Cape of Good Hope, adding distance and fuel consumption to voyages between Asia and Europe.

By Konica Bhatt

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