Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have rerouted another significant Asia-Europe container service through the Suez Canal, advancing the slow recovery of shipping along that corridor. The AE19 service, run jointly under the Gemini Cooperation, links Asia, the Mediterranean, Saudi Arabia, and Europe, and had previously taken the longer path around the Cape of Good Hope. The two carriers announced on Monday that the shift would take effect immediately, starting with the westbound departure of the Berlin Maersk.

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Hapag-Lloyd indicated to Euronews that the AE19 change is projected to cut travel time by roughly four weeks relative to the Cape route. Maersk stated that the move came after a review of security conditions in the Red Sea. Hapag-Lloyd characterized it as a targeted adjustment for one selected service, not a general network-wide return, and added that future routing choices would hinge on security, operational feasibility, and customer impact.

The Danish carrier told Euronews that AE19 is one of four services it has shifted from the Cape of Good Hope to Suez since early July, with the others being AE15, MECL, and WAF6. Maersk noted to Euronews that nine other services that could potentially use the Red Sea and Suez route continue to sail around the Cape, but declined to speculate on possible future changes.

Industry analysts caution that the return of a few services should not be interpreted as a broad reopening of the canal. Simon Heaney, senior manager for container research at maritime consultancy Drewry, told Euronews that the pace of Suez traffic recovery remains closely linked to developments in the Strait of Hormuz crisis and the wider Middle East conflict. He said that as long as that situation remains unresolved, a substantial return of Asia-to-Europe loops via Suez is unlikely.

Even with improved security, shipping firms are not expected to shift all services back through Suez simultaneously. Heaney suggested the return would likely occur in phases, starting with Europe-bound voyages that typically carry lower-value cargo. Carriers would need assurance that hostilities would not restart before entrusting more valuable shipments to the route.

There is also a commercial incentive to proceed cautiously. Routing around Africa requires more vessels because each trip takes longer. If many services revert to Suez at once, those ships would become available just as carriers are receiving a large influx of new vessels. Heaney warned that carriers must manage capacity carefully given the high number of new ships being delivered, and that shortening rotations en masse would cause rates to drop sharply.

For European importers, the advantages of returning to Suez will not materialize overnight. A few restored services may offer shorter journeys on select routes, but standard transit times across the broader network will not resume immediately.

The Suez Canal offers the shortest maritime link between Asia and Europe, bypassing the far longer voyage around the Cape of Good Hope. The diversions have increased both time and fuel expenses for shippers while also depriving Egypt of a key source of foreign currency.

The Suez Canal Authority has repeatedly pushed for shipping companies to come back. In June, its chairman, Admiral Osama Rabiee, said that reduced transit times and operational savings were helping attract some of the world’s largest container vessels back to the canal. He made those remarks as the CMA CGM Vendome, capable of carrying 24,000 twenty-foot containers, transited Suez on a service between Asia and north-western Europe. That passage 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 trips through the canal between January and May, totaling 12.5 million tonnes.

The return of several services provides early indications of renewed traffic through Suez, but both Hapag-Lloyd and Drewry maintain that AE19 does not yet point to a wider comeback.

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https://www.indexbox.io/blog/maersk-and-hapag-lloyd-shift-ae19-service-back-to-suez-canal/