CStar Line will launch a new Far East-Red Sea service (FRS1) from 26 July 2025 to call at Ningbo, Shanghai, Nansha, Jeddah, Aqaba, Sokhna, Jeddah, Ningbo. The service will turn in approximately 60 days and deploys 4 ships of 1,600 to 2,000 teu starting with the 1,831 teu CSTAR VOYAGER at Ningbo on 26 July 2025.
CMA CGM leads the list of carriers on the Suez/Red Sea route with 12 containership passages in June. Apart from regular passages on its Asia-Med Phoenician Express and Levant-Middle East Express services that have retained their Suez routing since last year, CMA CGM added 3 ad-hoc sailings last month, including the first of the Middle East-Med Express ships that will resume full Suez passages from the end of June. CMA CGM was the only main carrier to enjoy the Suez Canal Authority’s 15% discoun
SeaLead has relaunched its China-Red Sea (CRS) service connecting Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Sokhna, Jeddah, Shanghai using 5 ships that have been redirected from an earlier plan to deploy them on the Transpacific PNW route. The CRS service was already operated on an ad hoc basis since the end of April with the 3,451 teu LIDIA from 27 April 2025 at Shanghai and 2,274 teu CICCIO from 24 May at Ningbo. They have been joined by the 3,398 teu ALE at Ningbo on 14 June, 2,478 teu BERTIE at Shanghai on
CMA CGM has upgraded the capacity of the ships deployed on its Asia-Med Phoenician Express (BEX2) service from the 8,500-11,500 teu scale to larger ships of 13,100-15,500 teu. The 13,136 teu CMA CGM COBALT was the first of the upsized ships to join the service on 26 March 2025, and has been followed by the larger 15,536 teu CMA CGM OSIRIS on 2 May 2025. The BEX2 service is the largest service on the Suez Canal, and the use of the larger ships will allow CMA CGM to enjoy the 15% discount on tran
CMA CGM has redirected a ship on the Europe Pakistan India Consortium (EPIC) service to the Suez route despite the escalation in the Middle East conflict since 13 June 2025. The 11,388 teu CMA CGM AQUILA is heading from Algeciras to the Red Sea and is scheduled to transit the Suez Canal on 17 June 2025 before calling at Jeddah on 20 June, Abu Dhabi on 28 June and Jebel Ali on 30 June. The shorter Suez route will allow CMA CGM to cut the transit time from Europe to Abu Dhabi by about 10 days and
CMA CGM will return to the Suez route on the Med Express (MEDEX) service from June 2025 with a new rotation calling at Abu Dhabi, Jebel Ali, Karachi (temporarily omitted), Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Colombo, Jeddah, Piraeus, Malta, Genoa, Fos, Barcelona, Valencia, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi. The new rotation will turn in 10 weeks using 10 ships of 6,000 to 10,000 teu operated by CMA CGM starting with the 9,658 teu CMA CGM PELLEAS at Abu Dhabi on 27 May 2025. The first MEDEX westbound transit on the Suez is sc
Kawa Shipping has expanded its coverage to the Red Sea, Egypt and Turkey with a new Eastern Mediterranean Express (EMX) service from March 2025. The service is operated irregularly with connections covering Qingdao, Ningbo, Sokhna, Iskenderun, Mersin, Jeddah, Qingdao. The first sailing was made by the 1,063 teu LAN HAI ZHI YUAN that operated an ad hoc Dubai, Sokhna, Iskenderun, Mersin, Jeddah, Qingdao voyage from 2 March 2025. A second voyage by the 2,076 teu KAWA HONGKONG was launched from Qin
China United Lines will add a new Jeddah-Port Sudan (JPS) service from 11 April 2025. The JPS will turn weekly with the 599 teu ZHONG LIAN SHAN TOU that is currently positioning from China to the Red Sea.
CMA CGM will join Asyad Line and Folk Maritime on the India-Red Sea Service (IRS), with the French carrier branding the service as the India Red Sea Express/India Gulf Express 3 (BIGEX3). CMA CGM will join the IRS/BIGEX3 service that calls at Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Salalah, Jeddah, Nhava Sheva from 22 February 2025, adding a 3rd ship to the service as the sailing frequency is upgraded from 10 days to 7 days. The 3 partners will operate 1 ship each with CMA CGM's 2,524 teu ZHE CHENG XIN ZHOU joini
Container freight futures have rallied sharply, with December 2025 contracts surging by 53% over the past week as hopes for an early return of containerships to the Suez route fade. Since the 19 January ceasefire agreement in Gaza, there has been no ships diverted back to the Suez route with all main carriers retaining their Cape routing at least until March. The potential return of the diverted Suez ships would release up to 7% of the global containership capacity with the resumption of slow s