News / Maersk sets the pace for Red Sea return with service reschedule

Gradually, then suddenly, Maersk has been quickest out of the blocks towards a full-throated Red Sea return, announcing the first structural change of a service back through the Suez Canal, following two successful trial sailings in as many weeks.

Connecting the Middle East and India with the US east coast, the Cornelia Maersk will operate the first MECL service returning to its original Red Sea routing, dearting westbound from Jebel Ali today.

Maersk said: “The structural change of the MECL service is a significant milestone in Maersk’s gradual resumption of trans-Suez sailings. The strategic partnership between Maersk and the Suez Canal Authority has played a key role in the planning of this.

“Collaboration with partners in the region continues to be critical to ensure structural change of the MECL service and any next steps in a gradual trans-Suez return in a way that ensures the safety of the operations and safeguards predictability and stability for customers.”

Last Saturday, Maersk Detroit left North Charleston and will be the first eastbound sailing to use the trans-Suez route, the carrier confirming that subsequent sailings will follow.

This abrupt push to get more vessels through Suez has caught the sector offguard, coming just days after reports that Maersk had followed the Maersk Sebarok’s December test sailing with another, the 6,200 teu Maersk Denver.

Using a process known as “going dark”, both ships switched off their Automatic Identification System transponders before reaching the canal, rendering them invisible to satellite tracking and public monitoring, the MECL’s westbound Seletar doing the same on Monday.

Xeneta senior market analyst Destine Ozuygur said that unless the carrier issued another advisory, “all we can do is wait for the next signal to pop up”.

“It would be earlier than expected, but at this stage there’s a 50:50 chance the Seletar might pass through the Suez Canal”.

Just moments after Ms Ozuygur commented, the carrier confirmed the amendment to its MECL sailings, unless the Houthi threat re-emerged, leaving her to add that “the pace of confidence and pressure on other carriers to follow suit is rising fast”.