Maersk completes first Red Sea voyage in nearly two years

[COPENHAGEN] Danish shipping company Maersk said on Friday (Dec 19) that one of its vessels successfully navigated the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the first time in nearly two years, as shipping companies consider returning to the key trading route.

Maersk said that while it had no plans yet to fully reopen the route it was considering continuing a “stepwise approach towards gradually resuming navigation” via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.

It declined to further elaborate on its plans. Maersk, along with other global shipping companies including Hapag Lloyd, rerouted vessels around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope from December 2023 after Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked ships in the Red Sea, citing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The Suez Canal is the fastest route between Asia and Europe. The potential return of Maersk to the Suez Canal could ripple through the shipping sector, where freight rates have risen because the alternative route added weeks to transit times between Asia and Europe. However, a ceasefire in the Gaza war has since raised expectations that traffic may return to normal.

Maersk said in a statement that one of its vessels, Maersk Sebarok, had made the transit on Thursday and Friday. No additional sailings were currently planned, it said.

“Whilst this is a significant step forward, it does not mean that we are at a point where we are considering a wider East-West network change back to the trans-Suez corridor,” Maersk said. Niels Rasmussen, chief shipping analyst at ship-owner association BIMCO, said that a return of regular transits via the route could result in a 10 per cent reduction in ship demand.

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“The possibility of a return to Suez Canal routings looms large over the market outlook,” he said in a note published on Thursday.

French container shipping company CMA CGM, which has made limited Suez passages when security conditions allow, will use the passage for its India-US INDAMEX service from January, according to a schedule published on its website. REUTERS