Suez Canal: Large container ships have begun returning

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The Suez Canal Authority announced that large container ships have gradually resumed navigation in the Red Sea nearly two years since tensions broke out.

On November 8, the container ship "CMA CGM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN" sailed from the United Kingdom to Malaysia and passed through the Suez Canal.

The large container ship returned to the Suez Canal and Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the first time since it last passed through the strait on October 22, 2023, amid regional tensions.

The statement said the ship safely passed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after passing through the Suez Canal. As stability returns to the region, positive signs point to the resumption of passage of giant container ships through the Red Sea and Suez Canal.

This container ship belongs to CMA CGM, with a length of 399 meters, a width of 54 meters, and a draft of 13.5 meters. The ship can carry 17,859 containers and has a net tonnage of 177,000, making it the largest container ship to pass through the canal in two years.

Osama Rabiei, chairman and general manager of the Suez Canal Authority, said that given the return of stability to the situation in the Red Sea, the passage of container ships through the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a positive signal for the return of giant container ships to the canal.

He added that incentives and flexible marketing policies implemented by the agency have resumed 28 sailings of medium-sized container ships, with an average tonnage of between 130,000 and 160,000 tons, passing through the Suez Canal on their voyages from Europe to Asia since May last year.

Elsewhere, Egyptian officials reportedly held meetings with major shipping companies to discuss returning global shipping to the troubled Suez Canal route. Rabiei met with representatives of 20 shipping companies and institutions last week to discuss developments in the Red Sea region and its impact on global trade through the canal and the shipping market.

However, although the Houthis have stated that they will stop attacks on Israeli and Red Sea merchant ships after the ceasefire in Gaza, shipping risks still exist.

Analysts have warned that while the suspension has now been confirmed, an immediate and large-scale resumption of activity in the region will require a series of further assurances.