In the hope to convince carriers to return to the Suez Canal route, the Suez Canal Authority has introduced a 15% discount on transit tolls for large containership for the 90-day period from 15 May to 13 August 2025. Whether this encourages carriers sufficiently is yet to be seen, also because the resumption of the main services sailing via Suez would probably lead to substantial overcapacity and a dive of freight rates. Whilst CMA CGM is reported to consider increasing its Red Sea/Suez transits, Maersk has cost, operational and safety concerns and Hapag-Lloyd does not foresee it returning before the end of the year.
“Such a move involves a costly and complex redeployment of ships and would be difficult to justify on safety grounds.” -Maersk-
Source: DynaLiners 20/25 – 16 May 2025
