CMA CGM is bringing more eastbound service lines back to the Red Sea in the weeks after the carrier opted to sail ultra-large container ships through the waterway for the first time in two years.
The French carrier is preparing for a larger scale resumption of transits through the Suez Canal as October’s ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues to hold up. For now, it appears the focus is on the backhaul routes, where cargo-carrying ships are set to return to their origin port.
Already having trialed four vessels through the canal in November, CMA CGM will redirect eastbound sailings from the FAL1 service back through the Egyptian trade artery starting in early January. This service line connects ports northern European ports in Southampton, U.K. and Le Havre, France, with gateways in China including Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, as well as Singapore.
Ocean Alliance vessel-sharing partner Orient Overseas Container Line confirmed the return in a customer advisory on Wednesday. According to that advisory, the APL Merlion vessel is scheduled to reach the Suez Canal on Jan. 5.
The FAL1 service is fully staffed with 14 CMA CGM vessels ranging between 13,900 and 17,850 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs). A round trip for a ship on the FAL1 service took 105 days when sailing around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, but will be cut down a week to 98 days upon a full Suez return.
Two other backhaul services are also expected to be resurrected based on the successful westbound travel of the Jules Verne, which was a part of the Ocean Alliance’s MED2/MEX route. That cargo vessel is set to sail eastbound through the Suez Canal again in mid-December, with the wider MED2/MEX service to launch more eastbound voyages after starting with the CMA CGM Kimberley.
CMA CGM’s FAL3 service is also expected to switch from the Cape of Good Hope route to the Suez, according to Linerlytica, which flagged that the carrier had 10 Suez voyages planned through the conclude of January. That line has similar stops to the FAL1 service, except instead of docking at Southampton, ships berth at some of Europe’s hugegest ports including Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg.
The Ocean Alliance has been sconcludeing one Asia-to-Mediterranean service line, MED5, on a regular weekly rotation through the Red Sea since July 2024. That service, also known as BEX2, was operated and supplied entirely by CMA CGM with a fleet of 12 vessels that ranged between 10,000 and 15,500 TEUs.
CMA CGM had been the one major ocean carrier that had periodically transited through the Suez Canal since the Red Sea crisis launched in late 2023. According to data from container shipping research firm Alphaliner, the shipping company transported nearly 1.5 million TEUs through the Suez Canal in 2025, tops among ocean carriers.
Ongoing missile and drone attacks by the Houthi terrorist organization forced CMA CGM and its contemporaries to mainly reroute ships around the Cape of Good Hope, but the carrier sometimes elected to have its vessels escorted by the French Navy on occasion.
Other carriers are still figuring out their plans, particularly as the Houthis have appeared to back off as the ceasefire remains. On Wednesday, the Yemeni militant group released nine seafarers from the Eternity C bulk vessel they attacked in July.
In an online call with customers Thursday, Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen stated no date was set to resume Suez Canal transits, noting that it “once it comes it will be gradual.”
Last month, Habben Jansen had indicated the company has a plan for how it would return. But in the more recent call, he stated that there would required to be transition period of 60 to 90 days to adjust current logistics and avoid sudden port congestion.
Although Maersk has been shy about publicly committing to a return date to the Red Sea on a full-time basis, reports suggest the company may be gearing up for a selective comeback.
According to a report from the Journal of Commerce, Maersk is currently offering Indian shippers a specialized service that would transport cargo from India to the Mediterranean Sea via third-party relays at Oman’s Port of Salalah, as well as the Port of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E.’s Port of Jebel Ali.
That report stated Maersk is teaming with short-haul operator Safeen Feeders to transship cargo out of Salalah.
Currently, Maersk has three dedicated shuttle services that sail from the Mediterranean Sea to the Port of Jeddah. But the container shipping company does not have any mainliner or shuttle service on the Red Sea’s southern chokepoint, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
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