Premier Alliance — Japan's ONE, Korea's HMM and Yang Ming — is switching its Southeast Asia-North Europe FE1 service back through the Red Sea and Suez Canal from October. The first sailing is the 8,110-TEU ONE Continuity, departing Laem Chabang, Thailand on October 17 for Singapore, Suez, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Le Havre. It is the alliance's first structural return to Suez since diverting via the Cape of Good Hope in January 2024 (source: Linerlytica, reported by cncbl.com and Ship Universe).
The return is gathering scale. Linerlytica counts more than 140 containerships representing over 2 million TEU back on Suez routings since May, and Maritime Strategies International estimates roughly 35% of Asia-Europe sailings now transit the Red Sea. Maersk, CMA CGM, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd and COSCO Shipping have all partially resumed Suez transits; Suez Canal Authority data shows container vessel net tonnage up 54.2% year on year for January-August.
The recovery remains asymmetric, however. Sea-Intelligence data shows only 13-25% of Asia-to-Europe mainhaul capacity used the Red Sea in September, versus 25-47% on backhaul legs. Meanwhile the global containership orderbook stands at about 15.6 million TEU — over 45% of the existing fleet, the highest since 2009 — and port congestion ties up roughly 3.76 million TEU, or 10.9% of the world fleet.
What it means for shippers: the Cape diversion had absorbed much of the new capacity; as services return to Suez, the same ships complete more round trips, gradually easing effective capacity on Asia-Europe trades and adding downward rate pressure over the medium term. Short-term schedule adjustments may still cause volatility. For Japan lanes, faster intra-Asia vessel turnaround supports space supply, but peak-season bookings should still be made early to secure allocations.
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