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Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are expanding the number of Gemini Cooperation services returning to the Red Sea and Suez Canal, marking a further step towards restoring traditional Asia-Europe shipping routes after prolonged diversions around the Cape of Good Hope.

The carriers announced this week that their joint Asia-Mediterranean AE19/SE4 service will return to the Suez Canal route with immediate effect. The service connects Asia with Tangier, from where Gemini operates shuttle connections to Northern European ports. The Berlin Maersk, a 17,480 TEU vessel delivered in 2025, will be the first ship to operate the restored route and is expected to arrive in Tangier later this month.

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd said the decision followed an assessment of the security situation in the Red Sea. It follows an earlier decision in July to return the Gemini AE15/SE3 Asia-Mediterranean service to the Red Sea and Suez Canal.

Signs are also emerging of a return to Suez on Asia-Northern Europe services. The Manchester Maersk, operating on Gemini’s AE2/NE1 service, is expected to transit the Suez Canal on 15 August before continuing via Tangier to Wilhelmshaven, Bremerhaven and Rotterdam, where it is scheduled to arrive on 3 September. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have not yet confirmed whether this service will permanently return to the Suez route.

Gemini is not alone in cautiously returning to the corridor. CMA CGM has been the first in restoring Red Sea and Suez sailings and this year has operated several services through the route, although it has also adjusted individual services as the security situation has changed.

A broader return to the Suez Canal could have important implications for European container logistics. Since late 2023, diversions around the Cape of Good Hope have increased sailing distances and fuel consumption, absorbed additional vessel capacity and disrupted schedules and equipment flows. Restoring the shorter Suez route would reduce Asia-Europe transit times and release capacity, potentially putting downward pressure on freight rates as more services return.

Security risks in the Red Sea have not disappeared, however, and carriers continue to assess routes on a service-by-service basis. The latest Gemini decisions therefore point to a gradual rather than wholesale return to Suez, with shipping lines retaining the flexibility to divert around the Cape of Good Hope, should security conditions deteriorate.

Source: Reuters, Nieuwsblad Transport