By: OrePulse

The Premier Alliance partners ONE, HMM and Yang Ming will return their FE1 service, which links Southeast Asia with Northern Europe, to the Suez Canal starting this month, marking the alliance's first use of the route since it began diverting ships around the Cape of Good Hope in January 2024.

The 8,110 TEU ONE Continuity is scheduled to depart Laem Chabang, Thailand, on October 17 on the first FE1 sailing routed back through Suez. Other vessels on the service, including the 9,000 TEU NYK Venus, the 8,200 TEU ONE Hamburg and the 9,000 TEU NYK Orion, are also scheduled for Suez transits in the weeks that follow.

Maritime Strategies International estimates that about 35 percent of Asia-Europe sailings currently use the Red Sea route. More than 140 containerships, representing roughly 2 million TEU of capacity, have shifted back to Suez since May, according to data cited in trade reporting. Shipping analytics firm Linerlytica said a recent week was the busiest for Suez Canal containership transits since 2024, with 30 vessels of more than 4,000 TEU making the passage.

Shipbuilders' order books for containerships have swelled to roughly 15.6 million TEU, a record equal to about 45 percent of the fleet already in service, while congestion was holding up 3.76 million TEU — about 10.9 percent of the global fleet — according to the data cited in trade reporting.

Freight rates have eased as capacity returns to the shorter route. Freightos data showed Asia-North Europe spot rates down 9 percent to $3,376 per forty-foot equivalent unit, while Asia-Mediterranean rates fell 7 percent to $3,620 per unit.

The European Union's Aspides naval mission, which has supported merchant shipping in the southern Red Sea, has said it does not have enough vessels to meet all requests for escort, a constraint that shipping analysts cited as the main obstacle to a fuller and faster return to the Suez route.

Other alliances are also accelerating their return. Gemini Alliance partners Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are increasing Suez transits across several of their services, and Cosco's 24,200 TEU OOCL Spain is due to make the carrier's first westbound Suez transit in more than two years on October 4.