4 ships from CMA CGM were forced to abort their attempted exit from the Persian Gulf on 18 April 2026 after Iran shut down the passage through the Strait of Hormuz less than 24 hours after announcing its re-opening. The 4 ships were part of a convoy of 12 ships that was led by the Apollo Easterns managed 1,030 teu ship BHAGYA LAXMI. She was followed by the 15,254 teu CMA CGM EVERGLADE, 2,592 teu CMA CGM MANAUS, 15,254 teu CMA CGM GALAPAGOS and 3,534 teu CMA CGM DIAMOND, while a second group of
COSCO has sent the 18,982 teu CSCL ARCTIC OCEAN and CSCL INDIAN OCEAN through the Strait of Hormuz on 30 March 2026, becoming the first containerships not linked to Iran to leave the Persian Gulf since the 2,553 teu SSF LEO made it out on 3 March 2026. It follows an aborted attempt on 27 March 2026 when both vessels turned back just south of Qeshm and returned to shelter off Dubai. Both ships are operated by COSCO on the OCEAN Alliance Far East-Middle East 5 (MEA5 aka MEX/ME5/CMEX) service with
The 18,982 teu CSCL ARCTIC OCEAN and CSCL INDIAN OCEAN have aborted their first attempted passage of the Strait of Hormuz on 27 March 2026, which would have marked the first containerships that are not linked to Iran to leave the Persian Gulf since the 2,553 teu SSF LEO made it out on 3 March 2026. Both ships turned back just before passing the Hormuz in the morning of 27 March 2026 and are headed back to shelter at Dubai. They are operated by COSCO on the OCEAN Alliance Far East-Middle East 5
CMA CGM has resumed transits through the Suez Canal barely 10 days after suspending passage on the Red Sea route on 28 February 2026. The Asia-Med Phoenician Express (PHOEX/BEX2) service operated by CMA CGM with ships of 13,00-16,000 teu returned to the Suez on 11 March 2026 on both the eastbound and westbound voyages after just 1 ship was redirected to the Cape of Good Hope due to security situation in the Middle East. CMA CGM also announced the resumption of cargo bookings to the Middle East
Container vessel traffic in the Middle East remains unaffected by the escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict since 13 June with carriers maintaining their scheduled calls at Middle East Gulf and Israeli ports, while Suez transits have also been retained. Zim affirmed the continuation of its services to the Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifa while CMA CGM is still proceeding to reroute 3 of their Europe-Indian subcontinent/Far East ships through the Suez this month despite the rising tensions. How
The escalation of the Iran-Israel conflict in the Middle East has sparked fears of a potential disruption to vessel traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. The impact on the container markets will be far less severe compared to the tanker and LNG markets, as the Middle East Gulf is mostly an import market with very little exports of any strategic importance that are shipped in containers. Middle East Gulf ports located north of the Strait of Hormuz handled a total of 29m teu of containers in 2023, acc