Danish shipping group Maersk, one of the largest maritime transport companies in the world, announced that it will resume transit through the Suez Canal, a route its vessels have avoided since the initial attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in 2023.
“Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd announce a structural change to one of the Gemini services, the AE15 service: this will now utilize the route through the Suez Canal instead of transiting via the Cape of Good Hope,” Maersk stated in a press release cited by AFP.
Gemini is the name of the partnership between Maersk and the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd. The AE15 service connects Asia, the Mediterranean, and Europe.
The decision to avoid the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb strait, and the Suez Canal dates back to November 19, 2023, when the first attack against a container ship was carried out from the coast of Yemen by the Iran-aligned Houthi militia. This diversion forced vessels to circumnavigate the African continent, sailing along the eastern coast of Africa down to the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of South Africa before heading north again toward the Mediterranean and Europe.
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“This joint decision with Hapag-Lloyd comes following thorough assessments of the security situation in the Red Sea area, and marks a step towards a gradual return to the trans-Suez corridor,” Maersk explained, adding that this change will reduce transit times. However, the resumption remains conditional on maintaining a stable security situation in the region, with contingency plans in place should conditions deteriorate.
According to experts, around 70% of the cargo flows that passed through the Red Sea in 2023 were diverted to the Cape of Good Hope route. According to data from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Portwatch platform, which is based on satellite GPS signals from ships, the number of container ship transits via the Cape of Good Hope more than tripled over the last three years, while crossings through the Bab el-Mandeb strait and the Suez Canal fell by more than half.
