Yesterday, Maersk finally addressed speculation on their return to the Suez Canal in a joint press conference with the Suez Canal Transit Authority that celebrated their new strategic partnership agreement. The carrier stated that they will introduce a gradual return to Suez transits as conditions allow, with the safety of crews being paramount. We have not spotted definitive signals in any Maersk or Gemini schedules at this time but continually update our live vessel forecasts as they appear.
Coming hot on the heels of Maersk’s statements, our analysts confirmed not one but two major developments on Far East - Europe services earlier this morning. Two CMA CGM vessels, both deployed on Ocean Alliance’s NEU5 string, will pass eastbound through the canal in December. The 23,112 TEU CMA CGM JACQUES SAADE is currently forecasted to arrive on December 22 while the 20,954 TEU CMA CGM ANTOINE DE SAINT EXUPERY will transit the canal on December 31.
Earlier this month, the world watched as the CMA CGM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN and the CMA CGM ZHENG HE transited the canal back-to-back on November 1 and 8, respectively. Now, the Ocean Alliance NEU4 service on which both are deployed, will see official rotation changes take effect across all upcoming voyages. Transit times on this Far East – Europe string are being reduced from 105 to 98 days, paired with a single vessel reduction down to a total of 14 slots. The full turnover to this new service version is anticipated to be complete by mid-January.
With less fanfare but no less significance - our veteran of covert Suez Canal passages, the CMA CGM JULES VERNE deployed on Ocean's MED2, conducted her first westbound journey through the canal on November 15 and is scheduled to arrive in Valencia today. This marks another major milestone in growing positive sentiment; a major E/W network vessel using the canal to reach her first port of discharge in the Mediterranean.
Taken as a whole, these developments validate CMA CGM’s strategically sustained operations through the Suez Canal over the past two years. If the ceasefire holds, CMA CGM’s pioneering spirit and Maersk’s vote of confidence will pave the way for others; turning this steady trickle into a more generous flow of traffic in Q1 2026. Operational challenges will be inevitable, but we do not expect to see a sudden surge that leaves reliability in shambles or floods the market with capacity and forces rates to plummet overnight. What we should expect to see are roundtrip reductions, slot and rotation adjustments, vessel size reductions, and blanked sailings used to offset major delays.
The NEU4 string's partial commitment to eastbound-exclusive voyages through the Suez Canal demonstrate such early strategic measures. These backhaul transits are a clever method of shuffling in change without going ‘all in’ and forcing a disruptive reset across the entire string. This strategy enables CMA CGM and partners to better balance risks to cost, safety, and reliability as they navigate this major recalibration and we are likely to see it repeated elsewhere.
If you want to learn more about how you can navigate major network overhauls as a shipper, and which carriers will provide you the best reliability when times are tough - reach out to us at contact@xeneta.com
Update issued 27-11-25: Maersk has released statements to the press clarifying that there is no current commitment to returning to the Suez Canal in December, in part or in whole. We have removed 'December' from the introduction above. However, this clarification does not bar the possibility of the carrier executing 'test' voyages in the weeks ahead.
eeSea Signals
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