Evergreen has returned to Suez in the past three years!
Evergreen returns to Suez: Red Sea route enters "high-frequency switching period"
On November 8th local time, the 16,556 TEU container ship "Ever Eon" of Evergreen Shipping, as a member of the northbound fleet, passed through the Suez Canal, sailing from the Netherlands to Singapore. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) confirmed this passage in its announcement, with the chairman Rabiee present to welcome the ship.
This is the first ship of Evergreen to pass through the Suez Canal since January 2024, with a gap of nearly three years. According to the SCA's announcement, the shipping companies that have resumed Suez passage include CMA CGM, Maersk, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, and COSCO. Evergreen is the last member of the Ocean Alliance to return, as reported by The Loadstar, and its alliance partners have already resumed passage through the canal.
This is not a one-off test. The same report cited Linerlytica's arrangement: Besides Ever Eon, Ever Edit is scheduled to sail on the NEU7/CES route on November 11th, and Ever Gifted, with 20,124 TEU, is scheduled to sail on the MD2 route on November 16th. The original scheduled passage date for Ever Eon was November 7th, but it was executed one day later.
Red Sea direct route restart: OGRD route departs on November 12th
For freight forwarders operating in the Middle East and Red Sea routes, a more direct change occurred on November 12th. According to Linerlytica's schedule, Evergreen plans to restart the China - Red Sea OGRD route on November 12th, with the 7,024 TEU ship Ever Superb departing from Qingdao.
The port sequence is Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Jeddah, Suheina, Akaba, Jeddah, and then back to Qingdao, with a total turnaround of 56 days. Initially, only 4 ships of 7,000 - 9,000 TEU were planned, sailing every two weeks. The change lies in that Jeddah, Suheina, and Akaba have re-returned to direct ports.
Over the past three years, most goods from China to the Red Sea coast had to be transshipped in Singapore or Jebel Ali, with additional handling, cargo damage risks, and extra days in transit. The direct route restoration can save this segment. For the same week's booking, the arrival time at the port can differ by more than ten days.
Sailing schedule enters high-frequency modification period: Different routes for the same route
Industry insiders said that ships that changed to pass through the Suez Canal arrived earlier by up to two weeks compared to those still circling the Cape of Good Hope. Therefore, European ports may receive two batches of ships simultaneously this month. The suggestion is to reserve this period in the delivery schedule and use real-time vessel position tracking to confirm which route each shipment takes.
This is a practical operational guideline for freight forwarders. In the past three years, when asked "when will it arrive", they could answer based on the circling route. Now, from the same shipping company and the same route, two consecutive voyages may take one or two ships to pass through the canal and one to still circle the Cape of Good Hope. Getting the answer wrong means losing money. The ships remain the same, but the journey is shorter, allowing for one or two more round trips in a year, effectively releasing capacity.
Industry media judged that the shortened voyage is not good news for the prices of Asia-Europe and Asia - Mediterranean shipping. The price increase on November 1st did not hold, and there is still room for decline in the following weeks. Shipping companies are increasing Red Sea port calls to seize the rising shipping prices in the Shanghai - Persian Gulf direction.
Alliance pattern: ZIM remains the only major shipping company still circling the Cape of Good Hope.