While the world’s largest ocean carriers are by and large continuing to avoid the Red Sea, the operator of the Suez Canal stated its case for a future return.
The Suez Canal Authority held a meeting with Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc and several other executives at the ocean carrier, stressing “his aspiration that the coming weeks will witness further stability.”
“The positive indicators witnessed by the Red Sea region should be taken into consideration when developing navigation plans and schedules during the coming period,” said Admiral Osama Rabie, the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, in a statement.
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Maersk and other global container shipping giants like Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Hapag-Lloyd have been rerouting ships away from the Suez Canal since the tail end of 2023, when Yemen-based Houthi militants began attacking commercial vessels traveling the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the neighboring Gulf of Aden.
Those missile and drone attacks began in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, and endured throughout 2024, with more than 130 attacks occurring in the region, according to crisis mapping and data collection firm Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.
However, the Houthis largely slowed down their attacks on commercial ships in recent months, with the last confirmed attempted strike on a merchant vessel being intercepted by the U.S. Navy in between Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Three vessels avoided a hit, including the Maersk Saratoga container ship, bulk carrier Liberty Grace and tanker Stena Impeccable.
Although there have not been any attempted attacks on shipping since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire was established, the fragility of the ceasefire and still-high war-risk insurance premiums for container shipping firms have prevented the carriers from committing to a Red Sea return.
Carriers like Maersk, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have all said they would continue to divert vessels away from the Red Sea in the near term, instead sending them around southern Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. CMA CGM has traveled the Red Sea and Suez Canal on a limited case-by-case basis, with escorts from the French Navy since the attacks began.
Despite the lack of timetable, Clerc said in a statement, “We appreciate the efforts exerted by the Egyptian State to work on restoring stability to the Red Sea region.”
Other Maersk employees in attendance included chief operating officer and board member Rabab Boulos, vice president of operations Ahmed Hassan and Middle East and North Africa representative Hani El-Nady.
According to the statement from the Suez Canal Authority, Boulos “stressed that the group is closely following up on the developments in the Red Sea region.”
Aside from the Maersk meeting, which was held via video conference, Rabie hosted another meeting with 23 other container shipping clients at its Ismailia, Egypt headquarters Thursday. That gathering included El-Nady from Maersk, as well as executives from Cosco Shipping, CMA CGM and MSC.
“Adm. Rabie has sent a message of reassurance to the maritime community that the circumstance are ripe for the return of maritime navigation in the Red Sea region once again, announcing the Suez Canal’s readiness to operate at full capacity to receive the various navigational services of major shipping lines,” said a statement from the Suez Canal Authority.
The Suez Canal Authority and Egypt itself have had plenty of incentive to convince ships to return to the canal. In December, Egypt’s presidential office said that the revenues for the Suez Canal declined more than 60 percent in the 2024 calendar year—resulting in a loss of $7 billion for the country.
In late January, the authority provided its own official figures of the first quarter of the 2024-2025 fiscal year, noting that the number of vessels passing through the canal dropped by 51 percent, and transit revenues fell by 61.2 percent, amounting to $931.2 million compared to $2.4 billion in the same period the previous year.
As the authority seeks to bring the Suez Canal back to normal operations, the waterway is currently in expansion mode, widening and deepening a 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) navigation route within the waterway to allow for larger vessels.
On Monday, Rabie noted that navigational maps for the canal’s planned 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) extension were issued. That extension is designed to increase the canal’s capacity by between six and eight vessels per day and speed up the movement of ships in both directions. That new stretch will be operational in the first quarter of 2025.
The twin projects were first prompted by the blockage caused by the ultra-large Evergreen Ever Given container ship, which prevented ocean freight traffic from moving through the Suez Canal after being stuck for six days in March 2021.
