News / Ocean Alliance unveils 2026 east-west network – plus ca change

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UPDATE (23 January): This article has been corrected to accurately reflect Ocean Alliance calls at Gothenburg and Gdansk on the Asia-North Europe NEU4 service.

The Ocean Alliance members – CMA CGM, Cosco, OOCL, and Evergreen – today published their 2026 east-west network, offering 41 separate strings across the transpacific, Asia-Europe, transatlantic, and Asia-Middle East trades.

The so-called Day 10 product will deploy a total of 394 ships – with 130 provided by CMA CGM – giving a total loadable capacity of 5.3m teu.

“For 2026, in partnership with Cosco, Evergreen, and OOCL, CMA CGM has designed a robust and flexible network to maintain best-in-class service reliability and efficiency,” said the French carrier.

“The Asia-Northern Europe trade will provide the most comprehensive product in the industry, with the broadest port coverage at both origin and destination,” it added.

However, a Loadstar comparison of the pro forma port rotations of the new network with the Ocean Alliance’s current Day 9 product, as per Xeneta’s eeSea liner database, shows that much of the network will remain unchanged for customers.

Of the group’s seven Asia-North Europe strings, the NEU1, NEU2 and NEU3 are identical to the 2025 version.

Meanwhile, the NEU4 string, on which CMA CGM is the sole tonnage provider, will maintain calls at Gdansk and Gothenburg, but not under the Ocean Alliance banner, with a source advising The Loadstar that these calls will be exclusive to CMA CGM – essentially treated as “private calls” and on which Cosco, OOCL and Evergreen do not have loading rights .

This means Swedish importers will continue to enjoy three direct Asia calls per week – alongside CMA CGM, there is also Gemini’s Asia-North Europe Loop 4 and MSC/Premier Alliance’s Swan services as the two direct links from Asia.

Meanwhile, two Taiwanese export calls on the NEU6 service, at Kaohsiung and Taipei, have also been dropped, although a call at the latter has been added to the NEU7 service.

The NEU7 also sees a call added, at Felixstowe in North Europe, and, more intriguingly, two calls – both headhaul and backhaul – inserted at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Abu Qir, the first time it has received a direct Asia-Europe call.

However, given its location, close to the north entrance of the Suez Canal and well away from the main NEU7 routing, it is likely only to be activated once the Ocean Alliance decides to resume Suez transits – indicating that the NEU7 is likely to be first Asia-Europe service to do so.

The four Asia-Mediterranean services are also very similar to the previous year, with a call at Beirut dropped on the MED5 string, and an export call at Cai Mep dropped from the MED2 rotation.

CMA CGM said that across the group, 102 vessels would serve Asia-North Europe services and 54 Asia-Mediterranean.

On the transatlantic, the Ocean Alliance will continue its partnership with Premier Alliance members, with three strings between North Europe and North America.

The 22 transpacific services also remain largely unchanged; a couple of calls at the Vietnamese ports of Haiphong and Cai Mep have been switched between services, while on the import side Baltimore and New Orleans are dropped from the USEC5 and USEC6 respectively, although a call at Jacksonville has been added to the latter string.

In terms of the Red Sea crisis, the alliance has drawn up both via-Suez and via-Cape of Good Hope routings, but its vessels are currently deployed on the latter, while Red Sea passages remain too dangerous – as underlined by CMA CGM’s retreat from Suez yesterday.

The two Far East-Red Sea Ocean Alliance services “are suspended until further notice”, for the same reason.

“Cargo to and from the Red Sea region continues to be transported by CMA CGM through a standalone REX2 service, operated independently from the Ocean Alliance,” CMA CGM noted.