The number of container ships detouring round the Cape of Good Hope fell to a new two-year low of 4.6%, as Cosco and its affiliate OOCL joined their peers in resuming Suez Canal passage.
Container shipping consultancy Linerlytica said in its report this week that Cosco and OOCL have joined their Ocean Alliance partner CMA CGM in restarting Red Sea transits on their jointly operated Europe/Mediterranean-Asia services from today (15 September).
Five services operated by Cosco and OOCL ships will start their eastbound Suez transits, starting with “Cosco Portugal” on the AEU3/LL2/FAL2/NE3 service today, “Cosco Spain” on the AEU7/LL3/FAL7/NE7 service and “Cosco Shipping Taurus” on the AEM1/WM1/MEX2/MD2 service on 16 September, “Cosco Shipping Kilimanjaro” on the AEM6/AAS/PHOEX/BEX2 service on 20 September and “Cosco Denmark” on the AEU1/LL1/FAL5/NE1 service on 28 September.
Cosco and OOCL will join Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk who have separately announced an expansion of their trans-Suez routing on both directions to six services, with the NE4/AE5, SE2/AE11, SE1/AE12 and IEX/ME2 services joining the SE3/AE15 and SE4/AE19 that have already switched to the trans-Suez route since August.
Persistent vessel delays have convinced many mainline operators to revert to passage through the Suez Canal.
Linerlytica said: “Even as port congestion in China and Europe are starting to ease following the recent typhoon-related disruptions and port strikes respectively, vessel delays have ratcheted up port congestion at downstream ports, especially in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.”
Malaysia’s Tanjung Pelepas port, a hub for Gemini Cooperation partners Maersk Line and Hapag-Lloyd, suspended operations on 10 September after a hacking attack, adding to congestion woes.
The detours round the Cape of Good Hope started from November 2023, after the Iran-backed Houthi rebels began attacking ships in the Red Sea. In 2024, the percentage of container ships rerouting around the Cape peaked at nearly 10% of the global fleet.
With MSC, Maersk Line, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, Cosco and OOCL having restarted Suez transits, this leaves Evergreen and the Premier Alliance partners ONE, HMM and Yang Ming as the only mainline operators that have yet to return to the Red Sea. The latter group remains hesitant to do so, citing security concerns.
