Evergreen plots eight Suez transits as Red Sea port congestion looms

Evergreen has lined up eight ad hoc Suez Canal and Bab-el-Mandeb transits for its Far East–Europe services, plus four sailings aimed squarely at the Red Sea market, according to Alphaliner. That's the sharpest single-carrier signal yet that the industry's slow march back to the canal is accelerating — and the chokepoints are simply moving.

The 16,556 teu Ever Eon made its first Suez transit last weekend, sailing eastbound from Rotterdam to Singapore on the Ocean Alliance's China Europe Shuttle (CES). Three more eastbound CES transits are planned this year, and the Ever Even is scheduled to make a westbound passage, reaching Suez on 12 December.

What's actually being deployed?

Evergreen isn't just rerouting. It's also restoring direct Far East–Red Sea connections through an ad hoc service dubbed OGRD, deploying vessels of 7,024–9,466 teu on a rotation calling at Jeddah, Sokhna and Aqaba. The first ship, the 7,024 teu Ever Superb, leaves Qingdao on 14 November.

Emirates Shipping Line is following suit with a fortnightly Central/South China–Red Sea (CRC) service, running three vessels of 2,500–4,900 teu from Shanghai, Ningbo and Nansha into the same three ports — Sokhna, Aqaba and Jeddah. The inaugural sailing departs Shanghai on 13 November.

Note the overlap. Two new services, one fortnightly, both hammering the identical trio of Red Sea gateways. The return of direct services could concentrate additional cargo at selected terminals rather than spreading traffic evenly across the region.

Can Jeddah take it?

On paper, Jeddah's South Container Terminal looks ready. DP World reported July throughput above 221,200 teu — the terminal's highest monthly figure since operations began in 1999 — after a 79% year-on-year jump in first-half volumes. The operator has bought extra handling equipment and is expanding capacity.

The operational reality is less rosy. Expeditors' September update flagged congestion at the port, with landside delays of 10–12 days after discharge. That's nearly two weeks of cargo sitting in the box before it even starts its inland journey. Additional calls will test the terminal, while neighbouring ports receiving fewer vessels risk losing traffic and utilisation in the reshuffle.

Is North Europe the next pinch point?

Quite possibly. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have confirmed their ME1 service will return to the canal, joining six other Gemini Cooperation services already on the shorter route. The problem is timing: Suez-routed vessels can arrive alongside ships still coming the long way round the Cape of Good Hope.

Flexport's November European freight market update forecasts arriving vessel capacity at 131% of normal levels in Week 47, with roughly 40% of that arriving via Suez — 31 containerships through the canal that week versus 61 via the Cape. The forwarder treats anything above 120% of normal arrivals as a congestion risk, and it expects at least three weeks to breach that threshold between mid-November and January.

Rotterdam is already feeling it. Average container dwell times reached 3.37 days in Week 42, and yard utilisation is running at 80–90%. Those aren't crisis numbers, but they leave little headroom for a 131%-capacity week.

What does this change for shippers?

The arithmetic is straightforward. Suez routing cuts transit times by seven to ten days, which shippers will welcome after nearly two years of Cape detours. But the saving risks being eaten at both ends — by Jeddah's 10–12-day landside queue on the Red Sea side, and by North European yards absorbing a double wave of Suez and Cape arrivals through January.

The canal is reopening, in other words. The delays, true to form, are just relocating — and shippers planning December and January inventory would be wise to price in congestion surcharges at both Jeddah and the Le Havre–Hamburg range before committing to routings.