CMA CGM reverses course on some Suez services

France-headquartered container shipping major CMA CGM is rerouteing three full-loop services around Africa’s southern tip at the Cape of Good Hope instead of sending vessels through Egypt’s Suez Canal.

The liner company said the move away from the global shipping shortcut – that connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean and can shorten transit times for vessels by weeks – came down to uncertainty.

"In light of the complex and uncertain international context, the CMA CGM Group is constantly and closely monitoring all potential impacts on its operations. As a result, the CMA CGM Group has decided, for the time being, to reroute vessels deployed on our FAL 1, FAL 3 and MEX services via the Cape of Good Hope. The situation will be reviewed regularly," the company said in a brief statement on the move. 

CMA CGM announced a significant push back into the Suez Canal in early December 2025, with services connecting South Asia and North America on its INDAMEX services returning to transits through the Suez on both fronthaul and backhaul voyages between India and Pakistan and the US East Coast.

At the time, Xeneta chief analyst Peter Sand cautioned that the move did not specifically indicate an imminent large-scale return of container shipping services to the Red Sea. But Danish container shipping giant Maersk did announce a return to the region in mid-January 2026.

Maersk said its Middle East Container Line (MECL) service has returned to its original routeing, via the Suez Canal and Red Sea.

The service, which connects the Middle East and India with the US East Coast, is solely operated by Maersk.

In a statement on the decision to return to the Suez, the company called the rerouteing "the first structural change of a service back to the trans-Suez route. 

The company has, however, been progressing toward a return to the Suez since late 2025, after a press conference with the Suez Canal Authority attended by Maersk chief executive Vincent Clerc.

In a late-December 2025 blog post by Xeneta’s Emily Stausboll, the analyst looked at considerations around a large-scale return to the Suez in 2026 and pointed to freight rates and a desire to avoid potential disruption or supply chain dislocations as major drivers.

"The prime window to readjust services to Red Sea routes and minimise disruption would be immediately following Lunar New Year, which this year is quite late in mid-February. The post-holiday slump in demand would allow the worst of the disruption to come and fade before peak season later in the year. Conversely, if there is major adjusting in services during the cargo rush ahead of Lunar New Year, the risk of disruption increases significantly," she said.