Asia-Europe Services Returning to Suez: Carrier-by-Carrier Status

A booking number does not change when a carrier moves a service back through the Suez Canal. The B/L does not change. The contracted lane does not change. What changes is the arrival date, by roughly two weeks, and it can move in either direction depending on which specific sailing your container sits on.

As of today, a shipper with containers on several Asia to Europe services can hold six different Suez answers at once. Two of those answers belong to carriers that have publicly announced nothing.

What Changed in the Last Two Weeks

On 16 September the 24,188 TEU OOCL Portugal transited the Suez Canal southbound on a voyage from Belgium to China. The Suez Canal Authority described it as COSCO Shipping Lines’ first southbound passage since tensions in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb pushed carriers around the Cape of Good Hope. The vessel runs on the Ocean Alliance NEU2 service between the Far East and Northwest Europe.

Linerlytica identified four additional COSCO and OOCL sailings for Suez transits through 28 September, according to figures reported by Sourcing Journal. The Suez Canal Authority separately confirmed the OOCL Portugal crossing.

Separately, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd announced that four more Gemini Cooperation services would leave the Cape routing. The switches are staggered, and one of them has no first sailing announced at all.

Canal volumes support the direction of travel. Container ship net tonnage through Suez reached approximately 72.1 million tonnes between January and August 2026, up 54.2% from 46.7 million tonnes in the same period of 2025. On 16 September alone, 39 vessels transited.

Where Each Carrier Actually Stands

Carrier or group	Suez status	Detail
CMA CGM (Ocean Alliance)	Longest running	199 transits since the start of 2026, representing 25.2 million net tonnes, with transits assisted by naval escort under Operation Aspides
Maersk / Hapag-Lloyd (Gemini)	Partial, expanding	AE15/SE3 since July and AE19 since August. AE11/SE2 from 19 Sep, AE5/NE4 from 21 Sep. Carrier advisories differ on the first ME2/IEX westbound date. AE12/SE1 first sailing not yet announced
MSC	Partial since 24 Aug	Four east-west services linking Asia, North Europe, the Mediterranean and India, applied to both westbound and eastbound rotations
COSCO / OOCL (Ocean Alliance)	Just started	OOCL Portugal on NEU2 transited 16 Sep. Four additional sailings were identified for Suez transits through 28 Sep
Evergreen (Ocean Alliance)	Cape	No return announced, despite alliance partners returning
ONE / HMM / Yang Ming (Premier Alliance)	Cape, with an exception	No own-service return announced. Premier Alliance carriers hold slots on MSC’s Tiger service, so a share of their cargo already routes via Suez

Suez routing status by carrier as of 21 September 2026. Compiled from carrier advisories, Suez Canal Authority statements and trade press. Confirm your own sailings against current carrier advisories.

Four Ways Carrier-Level Reading Gets This Wrong

An alliance is not a routing decision

Evergreen sits inside the Ocean Alliance alongside CMA CGM, COSCO and OOCL. All three partners have moved cargo back through the canal. Evergreen has not announced a return. Container shipping analyst Lars Jensen flagged the gap when the OOCL Portugal transited. Booking with an Ocean Alliance service tells you nothing about the routing until you know which partner operates the string.

A service announcement is not your sailing

The Gemini switch covers four services on different timetables. Antonia Maersk voyage 635W makes the first westbound switch on AE11/SE2 out of Tanjung Pelepas on 19 September. Marchen Maersk voyage 635W follows on AE5/NE4 from the same port on 21 September. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have published different first westbound dates for ME2/IEX. The first AE12/SE1 sailing under the new routing has not been named. A shipper reading the headline number, four services, could apply a Suez transit time to an AE12 booking that is still going around Africa.

Your carrier is not necessarily your routing

The Premier Alliance members have announced no Suez return of their own. Jensen has pointed out that Premier Alliance carriers hold slots on MSC’s Tiger service, which means a portion of that cargo now moves on a Suez routing regardless. A shipper booked with ONE could reasonably conclude their box is on the Cape route and be wrong about it.

Direction changes the answer

Jensen also noted that the early Ocean Alliance returns were weighted toward the backhaul. The OOCL Portugal was sailing Belgium to China. A carrier can be demonstrably back in the canal on the Europe to Asia leg while your Asia to Europe headhaul cargo continues on the longer routing for weeks afterward.

The Exposure Runs in Both Directions

Late arrivals are the failure mode most teams have already built process around. Two years of Cape routing trained everyone to plan for cargo showing up later than the original schedule suggested.

Early arrival is the one that quietly costs money. A container booked against a Cape transit time that switches mid-cycle to Suez can discharge close to two weeks ahead of the date your warehouse slot, drayage appointment and labour plan were built around. Depending on the carrier and terminal rules, free time may begin from discharge or availability rather than the moment you are ready to collect. The result can be demurrage exposure created by a faster ship.

Reversion works the same way in reverse, and it is written into the advisories. Maersk’s original AE15 notice stated that a deterioration in the security situation could require reverting individual sailings or moving the whole service back to the Cape, with contingency plans already in place. We covered that clause when the AE15 switched in July, in AE15 Went Back to Suez the Day After a Red Sea Attack. A per-sailing reversion leaves the service nominally trans-Suez while your specific box goes around Africa.

That clause is not dormant. Reporting on the COSCO transit noted that fighting near the southern entrance to the Red Sea has been moving in the opposite direction to the routing decisions, and a Gulf states meeting with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz was postponed. The conditions that trigger the reversal language are live while the returns are being announced.

There is also an announcement lag. MSC ran a number of unannounced Suez transits in the weeks before it confirmed the change to customers on 24 August. Routing moved before the advisory did, which is the same gap operating in the opposite direction.

If you are holding bookings across more than one Asia to Europe service this month, the distance between what the advisory says and what your specific sailing does is where the cost sits. Walk through how ops teams catch routing and ETA changes at container level before the arrival notice does.

What to Re-Check This Week

Pull your open Asia to Europe bookings and record the service string against each one, not just the carrier name. AE12 and AE5 are different answers this month.
For Gemini bookings, confirm whether your vessel and voyage falls before or after the switch date on that specific string. The AE12/SE1 first sailing is still unnamed.
For Ocean Alliance bookings, identify the operating partner. An Evergreen-operated string is not in the same position as a COSCO or CMA CGM one.
For Premier Alliance bookings, check whether the sailing uses an own-service vessel or a slot on another carrier’s service.
Check direction. A carrier’s confirmed transit may be on the backhaul while your headhaul cargo is unaffected so far.
Re-run your arrival-side assumptions on any sailing that switched mid-cycle. Warehouse slots, drayage appointments and free time all key off the actual discharge and availability timing.

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