CMA CGM tests Suez route

CMA CGM is again testing the Suez Canal on Asia–North Europe shipping, even after a CMA CGM ship was hit on April 18 near Oman. (seatrade-maritime.com) (newsbreak.com) The French carrier had pulled three Asia–Europe services — FAL 1, FAL 3 and MEX — back to the Cape of Good Hope on January 20, saying the international situation was too uncertain. Seatrade and Lloyd’s List both reported that CMA CGM had been the most active big liner in trying limited Suez returns before that reversal. (seatrade-maritime.com) (lloydslist.com) Its alliance partners did not follow it all the way back. When the Ocean Alliance published its 2026 east-west network on January 20, it kept seven Asia–Europe and four Asia–Mediterranean loops on Cape routing from April 1, while also publishing Suez versions for later use. (seatrade-maritime.com) That leaves carriers with the same trade-off they have faced since Red Sea attacks upended container schedules in late 2023: the Suez route is shorter, but the security bill can wipe out the time savings. Kuehne+Nagel said Cape diversions can add more than a week on some voyages, while war-risk cover and convoy planning raise costs and uncertainty. (mykn.kuehne-nagel.com) (lloydslist.com) CMA CGM has been willing to test that balance before. In October 2025, Lloyd’s List reported that the 17,859-TEU CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin was poised to become the first alliance-operated Asia–Europe ship to re-enter the Red Sea route, after larger boxships had mostly stayed away. (lloydslist.com) The latest security backdrop is harsher than it was in January. Seatrade reported on March 2 that CMA CGM suspended all Suez services again and told vessels in or heading to the Gulf to proceed to shelter as fighting involving Iran, Israel and the United States escalated. (seatrade-maritime.com) On April 18, the International Maritime Organization said the French-flagged CMA CGM Everglade was damaged north of Kumzar, Oman, with no pollution or injuries reported. Reuters separately reported that one of the vessels fired at in the Strait of Hormuz belonged to CMA CGM. (newsbreak.com) (jpost.com) CMA CGM is still adding capacity on the Asia–North Europe trade. The company said on February 27 that its new Ocean Rise Express weekly service will start on April 2 with 14 ships of 7,000 to 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, including one 8,000-TEU liquefied natural gas-powered vessel. (cma-cgm.com) For shippers, the question is no longer whether Suez is faster on paper. It is whether carriers can keep enough ships, insurance and naval coordination in place to run that shortcut more than once. (seatrade-maritime.com)