Suez or Cape of Good Hope? How to Check Your Container’s Actual Route

The nominal capacity of container ships transiting the Suez Canal averaged 753,000 TEU a week in the first two weeks of October, according to Clarksons Research data cited by BIMCO. That is just over half the 1,457,000 TEU recorded in the same weeks of 2023, and the first time this measure has passed 50% of pre-disruption levels since the Houthi attacks began.

That headline counts every carrier and both directions. A given booking’s routing depends on its service and on which leg of that service the container is on, and carriers have switched those legs on different dates. An importer reading “Suez is back” can still have cargo on a westbound sailing that goes around the Cape, potentially arriving a week or more later than a comparable Suez-routed sailing.

Where the Suez Return Stands

BIMCO puts the canal’s share of container capacity routed via either Suez or the Cape at 36% in early October. That is up from an average of 8% between 2024 and mid-2026, and still well below the 80% recorded before the attacks. Routing changes to 16 services have been announced since early July.

The Asia-to-Europe direction is lagging. Northbound canal capacity, which carries cargo from Asia toward Europe, was 75% of southbound capacity in the third quarter and 81% in the first weeks of October, per BIMCO. BIMCO said the early increase came mainly from southbound sailings, the Europe-to-Asia backhaul. Linerlytica, cited by Seatrade Maritime, expects a full-scale return to Suez by the first quarter of 2027.

Suez Start Dates by Service and Direction

The table covers Asia–Europe, Asia–Mediterranean and India–Europe/Mediterranean services whose Suez routing is set out in a carrier advisory or published pro forma schedule. Each cell identifies the first announced Suez-routed sailing in that direction, where published. Services without a carrier-published first-sailing schedule are covered below the table.

Carrier	Service	Trade	Westbound (Asia to Europe)	Eastbound (Europe to Asia)
Maersk / Hapag-Lloyd	AE15 / SE3	Asia–Med	Both legs via Suez since July
Maersk / Hapag-Lloyd	AE19 / SE4	Asia–Med	Both legs via Suez since August
Maersk / Hapag-Lloyd	AE11 / SE2	Asia–Med	19 Sep, Antonia Maersk 635W, Tanjung Pelepas	28 Sep, Maersk Halifax 637E, Vado Ligure
Maersk / Hapag-Lloyd	AE5 / NE4	Asia–North Europe	21 Sep, Marchen Maersk 635W, Tanjung Pelepas	22 Sep, Maastricht Maersk 637E, Algeciras
Maersk / Hapag-Lloyd	ME2 / IEX	India–Europe	24 Sep (Maersk) / 19 Sep (Hapag-Lloyd), Cornelia Maersk 638W, Colombo	31 Oct, Cornelia Maersk 643E, Port Tangier
Maersk / Hapag-Lloyd	AE12 / SE1	Asia–Med	27 Oct, Umm Qarn 642W, Tanjung Pelepas	5 Dec, Umm Qarn, Algeciras (648E Maersk / 649E Hapag-Lloyd)
MSC	Tiger	Asia–Med	24 Aug, MSC Anna GT629W, Singapore	20 Aug, MSC Tina GT632E, Mersin
MSC	Himalaya	India–Med	31 Aug, MSC Beryl IS632A, Vizhinjam	No sailing listed
MSC	Jade	Asia–Med	No sailing listed	24 Aug, MSC Michel Cappellini GJ632E, Abu Kir
MSC	Albatros	Asia–North Europe	No sailing listed	24 Aug, MSC Josefina GA630E, Jeddah
Premier Alliance (ONE, HMM, Yang Ming)	FE1	Southeast Asia–North Europe	19 Oct, ONE Continuity, Laem Chabang	Not published

All dates are scheduled 2026 departures from the named ports, as published or reported by 15 October; the named port is not necessarily the final call before Suez. FE1 departs Laem Chabang on 19 October and is scheduled to reach the canal on 9 November. Sources: Maersk (14 and 28 September); Hapag-Lloyd (14 and 28 September); MSC (24 August); ONE FE1 pro forma reported by The Loadstar (1 October). Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd publish different first ME2/IEX westbound dates (24 and 19 September) and different AE12/SE1 eastbound voyage numbers (648E and 649E). “No sailing listed” means the cited first-phase advisory named no voyage in that direction. Verify each booking against its carrier’s latest schedule.

Ocean Alliance is not in the table because we could not verify a carrier-issued first-sailing schedule by direction across its services. Linerlytica reported that eastbound FAL3 sailings (branded NEU5 by the alliance, AEU6 by COSCO and LL5 by OOCL) began using Suez on 22 July while westbound sailings still used the Cape at that point. By 14 October, Seatrade Maritime was listing FAL3/NEU5 among regular westbound Suez services. The Suez Canal Authority reported the 16 September transit of OOCL Portugal and, in late September, described a further OOCL trial planned for October. Those reports show a changing routing picture but do not establish the route of any individual booking. Ocean Alliance shippers should ask their carrier for routing by voyage.

What the Table Shows for Your Bookings

Services did not switch both legs at once. MSC’s August advisory named eastbound Suez sailings for Jade and Albatros but no corresponding westbound start dates. For ME2/IEX, the carriers announced a first westbound Suez voyage in September, while the first published eastbound Suez sailing is Cornelia Maersk 643E, scheduled to depart Port Tangier on 31 October. Published start dates do not confirm the actual routing of every subsequent voyage.

Late switchers complicate arrival planning. The first Suez-routed FE1 sailing is scheduled to reach Rotterdam on 19 November. On AE12, Umm Qarn is scheduled to depart Tanjung Pelepas westbound on 27 October; 5 December is the date of its first published eastbound Suez departure from Algeciras, not its westbound arrival. Earlier sailings on these loops may remain on Cape-based schedules while Suez-routed voyages are underway. Depending on actual transit times and port delays, a later Suez sailing could arrive before a vessel that departed earlier via the Cape.

For any one shipment, the routing is set by the voyage the container actually sails on, which can change if the box is rolled. We covered the same problem for FE1 on 8 October and for the four Gemini switches in September. With changes announced for 16 services and implementation varying by date and direction, the advisory trail now spans the major carriers.

If your team is reading carrier advisories one service at a time to work out which containers are on Suez sailings, talk to Tradlinx about tracking voyage and ETA changes across carriers.

Every Switch Is Conditional

Maersk ties its Gemini changes to continued stability in the Red Sea and the absence of escalation in the region. MSC says it may adjust individual voyages under contingency arrangements. Both statements mean a scheduled Suez voyage could be rerouted via the Cape if conditions change.

The risk picture moved this week. Yemen’s Houthis have escalated attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities, including the Aramco headquarters in Dhahran, and vowed to continue, Reuters reported on 14 October. Last month Houthi forces also advanced down the Red Sea coast to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern entrance every Asia–Europe Suez sailing must pass.

What to Check This Week

Your direction. Read the column for your cargo’s direction: westbound for Asia-to-Europe imports, eastbound for exports to Asia. A service on Suez in one direction may still use the Cape in the other.
Voyage, not service. Compare each booking’s vessel and voyage number with the carrier’s own first Suez sailing. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd publish different voyage identifiers for AE12/SE1 eastbound, so do not treat a partner’s number as interchangeable.
ME2 eastbound. Use Cape-based transit times as a fallback for Europe-to-India cargo before the first announced 31 October eastbound Suez sailing, unless the carrier confirms otherwise.
AE12 and FE1. Check whether sailings before the first announced Suez departures—27 October for AE12 and 19 October for FE1—remain on Cape-based schedules. Refresh ETAs using the actual assigned voyage, including after transshipment or rolling.
MSC Jade and Albatros westbound. Ask MSC whether current westbound voyages use Suez. The August advisory named only eastbound sailings for these loops.
Ocean Alliance bookings. Request voyage-level routing from CMA CGM, COSCO, OOCL or Evergreen in writing.
Same-service arrivals. Where Suez and Cape sailings overlap on one loop, re-sequence receiving plans by the latest vessel ETA rather than departure order.
Reversal fallback. Keep a Cape-timing scenario for time-critical cargo booked on any service in the table.

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