Shipping lines are sending container ships back through the Suez Canal. Linerlytica counted more than 45 large vessels in the canal in two separate weeks, against fewer than 15 a week in early August.
They are not going back together. Carriers are returning service by service, each decision tied to the security situation in the Red Sea, and they say they can divert again. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have four more services on the way back on top of two that returned over the summer. MSC has run four Asia to Europe services via Suez since late August. CMA CGM has partly returned, COSCO and OOCL made their first transits in mid-September, and the Premier Alliance carriers are bringing three services back. Evergreen and Zim have announced nothing. Sources disagree on several of the dates, so Shypple advises confirming the route per booking rather than planning around a published schedule.
The practical effect is that Suez and Cape sailings now run side by side on the same lanes. Every schedule was built around the Cape, so some ships arrive earlier than planned and others later, and ships arriving and leaving in the same week cause congestion at the bigger terminals. Shypple and the carriers expect three to six months before this settles.
Elsewhere, the Dutch and Belgian road fuel surcharge hit 30% in week 42, its 2026 high, and the Rhine at Kaub is still very low.
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