On Saturday, August 22, two of Maersk’s biggest container ships passed through the Suez Canal together, marking another step in the carrier’s push to bring more vessels back to the Suez Canal-Red Sea route and streamline its operations. The Suez Canal Authority, which is working to rebuild its traffic, drew attention to the passage and gave the Bangkon Maersk—one of the company’s newest large vessels—a special plaque to commemorate its first trip through the waterway.

Read also: Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd Shift AE19 Service Back to Suez Canal

Leading the northbound convoy that day was the Mathilde Maersk, built in 2015 and weighing 214,121 deadweight tons. This ship belongs to the last batch of the Triple E class, which are Maersk’s biggest by capacity, rated at 19,076 TEU. It was heading to Colombo en route to the Far East. Right behind it came the Bangkok Maersk, also from 2015, with 181,648 deadweight tons. That vessel is part of the dual-fuel series that can run on methanol, holds 17,480 TEU, and was traveling from Italy toward Singapore, making its inaugural Suez transit.

About two weeks earlier, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd jointly announced they would reroute more services, including parts of the Gemini Cooperation, back through the Suez and Red Sea corridor. Maersk’s CEO Vincent Clerc noted that conditions now justify moving additional ships to their original paths, though the company will keep watching the situation. Industry analysts suggest Maersk might have all its services back on the Suez-Red Sea route by the close of this year.

The canal authority points out the benefits for ships returning to their standard itineraries. For these Maersk vessels, it cuts travel time by as much as 14 days compared with going around South America. On that Saturday, the Suez Canal Authority recorded 57 ships passing through, totaling 2.8 million net tons.

Last week, reports indicated that MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company had also quietly started sending its first ships back through the Suez Canal toward Asia. Seven vessels reportedly made the crossing, but they were running dark, without broadcasting their positions.

The Suez Canal Authority has also noted rising traffic from CMA CGM. Since the beginning of this year, the French carrier has had 199 ships use the canal, with a combined net tonnage of 25.2 million tons. For all of 2025, CMA CGM sent 212 vessels through, totaling 18.8 million net tons.

https://www.indexbox.io/blog/maersk-mega-ships-return-to-suez-canal-as-red-sea-routes-reopen/