Market Pulse 2026 Week 11

The Strait of Hormuz remains shut to containership traffic, apart from Iranian-linked vessels who have made 6 inbound and 4 outbound sailings in the Persian Gulf since the war started. 2 Iranian-linked ships that have been idle since August following US sanctions last year have also been recently activated and are now on loaded and on their way to the Persian Gulf.

CMA CGM have resumed bookings in and ouf of the Middle East Gulf states despite the Hormuz blockade by offering alternative gateways through the Red Sea and Arabian Sea. CMA CGM has resumed Red Sea transits after a brief 10 day suspension, with the Asia-Med PHOEX/BEX2 service returning to the Suez on 10 March. Other smaller carriers have retained their Suez and Red Sea routing as Jeddah and King Abdullah becomes key alternative gateways into the Gulf states, supplementing existing cargo moving via Oman and outer UAE ports.

Carriers have scaled back their rate hikes in March on the Asia-Europe and Transpacific routes given the absence of any capacity or box equipment shortage, with congestion in Southeast Asia also starting to ease.

Hormuz impact on regional port congestion less severe than expected
Port congestion at the key hub ports across South Asia and Southeast Asia have started to ease following the initial disruptions from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Singapore bore the brunt of the initial shock but congestion has started to clear after delays peaked at 3.5 days while the other main Southeast Asian hubs have been able to limit delays to less than 1 day. On the Indian subcontinent, displaced Middle East traffic is still building up especially in Mundra and Colombo but the impact has so far been kept under control with delays averaging less than 2 days and traffic flow expected to peak in the coming week. Attention is shifting towards bunker availability, with supply reported to be tightening across Asia with China the only key region where availability has not been significantly affected.