Maersk Resumes First Route Through Suez Canal–Red Sea After Two Years
Maersk is drawing a lot of attention with its announcement today that it has restarted its first service on its normal routing through the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Long seen as a bellwether for the industry, Maersk's move to fulfill its commitments to the Suez Canal Authority for a return is seen as a pivotal moment for the industry following a similar move this month by CMA CGM.
In an announcement from Maersk, it called the move the “next step” in its gradual return to the trans-Suez corridor. This step comes on one of the carrier’s solely operated routes, which sails between the U.S. East Coast and India with stops in the Middle East. Maersk highlights that the move will provide customers with the “most efficient transit times.” Online, Maersk was showing a 62-day transit time between Charleston, South Carolina, in the U.S., and India using the route around Africa.
The decision to fully restore this one route to the Suez corridor comes after two trial transits in the past month. The company first sent its Singapore-registered Maersk Sebarok along the route in December. The U.S.-flagged Maersk Denver is currently on the route, having already cleared the Bab al-Mandeb and the area where the Houthis had been active. The vessel is approaching the Suez Canal for a transit in the coming days.
The official resumption of the route came today, January 15, with the departure of the Cornelia Maersk from Jebel Ali in the UAE. The vessel, built in 2002 and registered in Denmark, has a capacity of 8,650 TEU. The first eastbound transit will be made by the Maersk Detroit. The U.S.-flagged vessel with a capacity of 6,88 TEU departed Charleston on January 10 and is due to reach the Suez Canal on February 9, according to the online schedule.
Maersk said it will continue to monitor security in the Middle East region very closely. It said the service “will remain dependent on the ongoing stability in the Red Sea area and the absence of any escalation in conflicts in the region.” The company said it has contingency plans in place should the security situation deteriorate, which could include reverting individual sailings or a wider structural back to the Cape of Good Hope route.
The company emphasized that this route is not part of the Gemini Cooperation with Hapag-Lloyd, which has said it is not yet altering schedules to return to the Suez corridor. The Suez Canal Authority had said late last year that Maersk committed to a return to the routes while the company had said it would continue to depend on the safety of its crews and ships.
CMA CGM ship still being escorted in January 2026 by Italian frigate - EU Operation Aspides
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Maersk follows CMA CGM, which is also resuming regular transits through the corridor starting this month for its route to India. The French carrier had maintained some service during the two-year conflict coordinated with security provided by the EU Operation Aspides. Indeed, the EU operation posted a picture on January 13 showing an Italian frigate sailing with a CMA CGM containership in the Red Sea region.
The reopening of the Suez corridor is being closely watched by the industry and analysts. Chief Shipping Analyst at the shipping trade group BIMCO, Niels Rasmussen, noted in his weekly update that Suez Canal traffic was still down 60 percent in the first week of 2026 versus 2023. A full normalization, Rasmussen predicts, would reduce containership demand by approximately 10 percent. The rerouting around Africa drove up industry utilization and contributed to the strong financial results of the carriers while delaying a forecasted culling of older vessels and efforts by the carriers to reduce a looming overcapacity.
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