CMA CGM and COSCO Shipping Lines/OOCL will temporarily drop Tangier from the westbound rotation of their joint EPIC/IP1 service and call at Algeciras instead, according to DynaLiners. The carriers expect the adjustment to remain in place until at least December 2026 — a window of roughly 18 months from now.

That timeframe matters. This is not a short-term operational tweak absorbed in a schedule blip; it is a structural change to a core Europe–Middle East–India loop that shippers with cargo booked through Tangier will need to plan around for the better part of two years.

What changes on the EPIC rotation?

The EPIC service connects Northern Europe with the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent, serving several major gateways across the trade. The revised port rotation, as reported by DynaLiners, will run:

• Algeciras
• Southampton
• Rotterdam
• Hamburg
• Antwerp
• Le Havre
• Algeciras
• Jeddah
• Duqm
• Mundra
• Nhava Sheva
• Colombo
• Jeddah
• Algeciras

The change temporarily removes Tangier from the westbound schedule while adding Algeciras in its place. Eastbound, the loop retains its familiar sequence of North European base ports before heading south through Jeddah toward Duqm, Mundra, Nhava Sheva and Colombo.

What does this mean for shippers and forwarders?

The immediate commercial consequence falls on westbound cargo that has been routing through Tangier. Shippers using Tangier as a Mediterranean transshipment or origin point on this string will now face a shift to Algeciras, with the inland and feeder connections that implies on the Spanish side of the strait rather than the Moroccan side.

For forwarders, the practical tasks are concrete: rebook westbound cargo to the new Spanish call, check whether any Tangier-dependent feeder arrangements still align with the revised windows, and confirm documentation and port charges at Algeciras for shipments already in the pipeline.

For the carriers themselves, the move consolidates EPIC/IP1 activity at a single Iberian Peninsula gateway per sailing direction — Algeciras appears three times in the published rotation — which simplifies port calls on a loop that already spans two continents and roughly a dozen ports.

What is not said

Notably absent from the announcement is any explanation of why the change is being made. DynaLiners' report specifies the what and the until-when — December 2026 at the earliest — but neither carrier has publicly stated the driver, whether that is terminal capacity at Tangier, cost, berth congestion, or network strategy. The word "temporarily" also deserves scrutiny: carriers have a record of temporary changes that outlive their stated windows, and shippers would be prudent to treat the December 2026 date as a floor rather than a deadline.

Equally unstated is what happens to any Tangier cargo that previously relied on this string. Whether that demand migrates to Algeciras, shifts to other CMA CGM or COSCO services touching Tangier, or moves to third-party loops is a question the report leaves open.

The outlook

For now, the revised rotation stands as published, with Algeciras anchoring both ends of the loop. Shippers on the Europe–India trade should watch subsequent schedule notices for confirmation of first sailing dates under the new rotation — and for any signal, once December 2026 approaches, of whether Tangier returns or the "temporary" swap hardens into something permanent.

By Marcus Bennett, Waybill Wire