<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">With a prolonged peak season, some non-asset-based intermodal marketing companies are reporting difficulties securing rail-owned containers and slots on trains in Chicago, Portland and Oakland over the past month.</div>

With a prolonged peak season, some non-asset-based intermodal marketing companies are reporting difficulties securing rail-owned containers and slots on trains in Chicago, Portland and Oakland over the past month.

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<div>Class I railroads are dealing with disruptions on the US West Coast and in the critically important Chicago market amid an extended peak shipping season that continues to set monthly records for domestic and international intermodal cargo volumes. While the disruptions have not reached the level of delays seen earlier this year in <a>Los Angeles</a> or <a>Tacoma</a>, some non-asset-based intermodal marketing companies (IMCs) report difficulties securing rail-owned containers and slots on trains in Chicago, Portland and Oakland over the past month. “It’s been surprising that coming out of Thanksgiving it has been challenging getting our hands on rail boxes in...

Class I railroads are dealing with disruptions on the US West Coast and in the critically important Chicago market amid an extended peak shipping season that continues to set monthly records for domestic and international intermodal cargo volumes. While the disruptions have not reached the level of delays seen earlier this year in Los Angeles or Tacoma , some non-asset-based intermodal marketing companies (IMCs) report difficulties securing rail-owned containers and slots on trains in Chicago, Portland and Oakland over the past month. “It’s been surprising that coming out of Thanksgiving it has been challenging getting our hands on rail boxes in Portland,” said an IMC executive who did not want to be identified. The source noted that while the issues posed challenges, they were less severe than disruptions experienced in the past four years. Railroads have diverted capacity to address surging demand in Southern California, which has been compounded by increased holiday parcel shipments from carriers such as FedEx and UPS. Record-breaking cargo volumes Cargo fluidity has slowed amid unprecedented intermodal volume in the Southwest US that has exceeded even the pandemic-related surges in 2020 and 2021. The Southwest intermodal market includes the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the country’s busiest gateway. Domestic intermodal shipments originating in the Southwest set new monthly records every month from June through November, according to data from the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA). Railroads hauled 165,068 domestic loads from the Southwest last month, the most ever for the month of November. The heavy volumes have put pressure on Union Pacific (UP) and BNSF Railway moving cargo from Los Angeles to Chicago, Memphis, and markets in Ohio such as Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus. Between Nov. 18 and Dec. 13, railroads hauled 1.59 million international and domestic intermodal loads, marking the highest four-week average for that period since 2020, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR), and showing clear evidence of a prolonged peak season. Still, despite the sustained volumes, service metrics have improved for train movements off the West Coast in the last four weeks. The number of loaded intermodal railcars idling for more than 48 hours has returned to normal levels, data from the US Surface Transportation Board (STB) shows. UP reported an average of 46.5 loaded railcars per day idling for more than 48 hours over the last four weeks, down from nearly 170 railcars per day in the first 45 days of the quarter. A spokesperson for UP said the railroad has worked to “meet committed capacity, reduce port dwell and improve transits.” Chicago backups IMCs, meanwhile, say they’ve faced struggles since mid-November securing reservations to drop off containers at CSX’s Bedford Park terminal in Chicago. “It’s gotten pretty bad at times with a lack of gate reservations, unless you’re willing to wait a week,” said a second IMC who also did not want to be identified. “It’s been really challenging.” The Midwest has experienced elevated domestic cargo volumes, with monthly records set in five of the last six months. In November, railroads hauled a total of 73,856 loads from the Midwest to the Northeast and Southeast, according to IANA, the second-highest November total after 2018. CSX said its gate reservation system is a critical tool to manage cargo flows during periods of heavy volume to ensure a smooth transfer of containers between trucks and trains. While the reservation system prevents terminals from becoming clogged with containers during volume surges, customers may have to wait days before dropping off boxes because only a finite number of reservations are granted each day. “While we recognize that persistent holiday traffic, weather conditions, and dwell increases created temporary delays for some IMCs, we continue to actively work with our customers to address their evolving service requirements,” a CSX spokesperson said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce. “Shippers are encouraged to collaborate with their account managers to explore solutions for increased volume or changing needs.” Contact Ari Ashe to ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

Rail News

North-American rail

Intermodal providers

Surface

IMCs dealing with rail service disruptions amid unusually high volumes

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The weekly loop, known as the ME11 for Maersk and the IMX for partner Hapag-Lloyd, would join Maersk’s MECL service and CMA CGM’s Indamex among major carriers in resuming transits through the Red Sea and Suez.</div>

The weekly loop, known as the ME11 for Maersk and the IMX for partner Hapag-Lloyd, would join Maersk’s MECL service and CMA CGM’s Indamex among major carriers in resuming transits through the Red Sea and Suez.

<div class="phx-topic">A Gemini Cooperation service on the India-Middle East-Mediterranean trade is poised to return to the shorter Red Sea/Suez Canal route “shortly,” a source at Gemini partner Maersk told the Journal of Commerce. The weekly loop — known as the ME11 for Maersk and the IMX for partner Hapag-Lloyd — calls Jebel Ali (Dubai), Mundra and Nhava Sheva in India, Salalah (Oman), Port Tangier (Morocco), Valencia (Spain), and Port Said (Egypt). ”Schedule readjustments are being worked out with Hapag-Lloyd to resume Red Sea transits,” said a Maersk executive with knowledge of the matter who didn’t want to be identified. “The service will shortly switch over.” Officially, the Danish carrier declined to provide any details of upcoming Gemini schedule changes when contacted by the Journal of Commerce. “Currently, we cannot comment on any future sailings,” Maersk said in an email response. The Gemini loop would <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/maersk-set-to-resume-regular-suez-transits-on-india-usec-mecl-loop-sources-6152441">join Maersk’s MECL service</a> and CMA CGM’s Indamex among major carriers in resuming transits through the Red Sea and Suez. Major liners have mostly avoided the route since late 2023 when Houthi militants operating in Yemen began their attacks on commercial shipping to protest Israel’s move into Gaza, forcing lengthy diversions around southern Africa. <h3>Gemini has three India services </h3>The ME11/IMX schedule development should be viewed in the context of Gemini's operational fleet structure. For the India/Mediterranean trade coverage, Maersk has the flexibility to implement Red Sea/Suez transits as it’s the sole tonnage provider, with space allotted to its partner, unlike the West India-North Europe string that has a Hapag-Lloyd capacity sway. Overall, the Gemini framework has three services out of India — two serving northwestern markets via the ports of Nhava Sheva and Mundra and one linking the southeastern region via Ennore, near Chennai. Capacity utilization out of Ennore is facing pressure due to the general slowdown in Indian exports, with space allocations scaled down by Gemini for 2026, forwarder sources in Chennai said. The India-Mediterranean trade is now a crowded field for mainline carriers, driven by the entry of several regional carriers, including Turkish participants, and non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs) trying to cash in on the Red Sea disruption with direct services. CMA CGM is <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/cma-cgm-reworks-india-med-loop-rotation-to-streamline-red-sea-operations-6142192">already operating its “Medex” service on the trade lane via the Red Sea/Suez route</a>, with the shift implemented in June 2025. Forwarder sources have put current average booking rates from Nhava Sheva to Port Said at between $1,400 to $1,500 per FEU, down about $200 over the past month despite sporadic sailing cuts on mainline services. Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com.</a></div>

A Gemini Cooperation service on the India-Middle East-Mediterranean trade is poised to return to the shorter Red Sea/Suez Canal route “shortly,” a source at Gemini partner Maersk told the Journal of Commerce. The weekly loop — known as the ME11 for Maersk and the IMX for partner Hapag-Lloyd — calls Jebel Ali (Dubai), Mundra and Nhava Sheva in India, Salalah (Oman), Port Tangier (Morocco), Valencia (Spain), and Port Said (Egypt). ”Schedule readjustments are being worked out with Hapag-Lloyd to resume Red Sea transits,” said a Maersk executive with knowledge of the matter who didn’t want to be identified. “The service will shortly switch over.” Officially, the Danish carrier declined to provide any details of upcoming Gemini schedule changes when contacted by the Journal of Commerce. “Currently, we cannot comment on any future sailings,” Maersk said in an email response. The Gemini loop would join Maersk’s MECL service and CMA CGM’s Indamex among major carriers in resuming transits through the Red Sea and Suez. Major liners have mostly avoided the route since late 2023 when Houthi militants operating in Yemen began their attacks on commercial shipping to protest Israel’s move into Gaza, forcing lengthy diversions around southern Africa. Gemini has three India services The ME11/IMX schedule development should be viewed in the context of Gemini's operational fleet structure. For the India/Mediterranean trade coverage, Maersk has the flexibility to implement Red Sea/Suez transits as it’s the sole tonnage provider, with space allotted to its partner, unlike the West India-North Europe string that has a Hapag-Lloyd capacity sway. Overall, the Gemini framework has three services out of India — two serving northwestern markets via the ports of Nhava Sheva and Mundra and one linking the southeastern region via Ennore, near Chennai. Capacity utilization out of Ennore is facing pressure due to the general slowdown in Indian exports, with space allocations scaled down by Gemini for 2026, forwarder sources in Chennai said. The India-Mediterranean trade is now a crowded field for mainline carriers, driven by the entry of several regional carriers, including Turkish participants, and non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs) trying to cash in on the Red Sea disruption with direct services. CMA CGM is already operating its “Medex” service on the trade lane via the Red Sea/Suez route , with the shift implemented in June 2025. Forwarder sources have put current average booking rates from Nhava Sheva to Port Said at between $1,400 to $1,500 per FEU, down about $200 over the past month despite sporadic sailing cuts on mainline services. Contact Bency Mathew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com.

Port News

Container lines

International ports

Container Shipping News

Maritime

Gemini India-Med service the next to plan return to Red Sea/Suez passage

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Tailwind Shipping, which emerged during the pandemic as a vessel operating arm of retailer Lidl, has enabled booking and shipment management tools within CargoWise, the widely used forwarding software platform.</div>

Tailwind Shipping, which emerged during the pandemic as a vessel operating arm of retailer Lidl, has enabled booking and shipment management tools within CargoWise, the widely used forwarding software platform.

<div class="phx-topic">Tailwind Shipping Lines, the vessel operating arm of supermarket retailer Lidl, said Wednesday it has integrated with CargoWise, the widely used forwarding software platform owned by WiseTech Global. The move links CargoWise to a key customer segment that WiseTech has recently chased since acquiring software provider E2open in May 2025. The integration with Tailwind enables forwarders to access within CargoWise the ocean booking, confirmation and management features for shipments moving on Tailwind vessels. That includes access to Tailwind’s schedules, dynamic rates and capacity, as well as the ability to digitally modify bookings without leaving CargoWise. “The direct integration with CargoWise removes manual steps from the process and ensures data consistency from start to finish,” Nico Peters, vice president of commercial management at Tailwind, said in a statement. “It is a smarter, more digital shipping experience built around speed and accuracy, which exactly mirrors Tailwind’s key characteristics.” Lidl launched Tailwind in 2022 amid global capacity constraints stemming from pandemic-induced container demand. The subsidiary has remained in business even as demand has normalized and now sells capacity to forwarders. It primarily handles the containerized transport of non-food goods, originally exclusively for Lidl, but now also for other customers. Tailwind operates three liner services: the Panda Express Service (PAX) between China and the Mediterranean; the Tiger Express Service (TEX) between Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka; and the European short-sea operator Dolphin Express Service (DEX), which transports goods between Barcelona in Spain and Moerdijk in the Netherlands. Those services are built around schedule reliability by focusing on minimal port calls at smaller ports. <h3>May extend to rail, inland services </h3>While Tailwind is a container line, its affiliation with one of Europe’s largest retailers is notable, given WiseTech’s $2.1 billion acquisition of E2open in 2022. E2open’s customer base is largely shippers, and analysts have speculated since the transaction that WiseTech would target shippers more directly in the years ahead, given it already has the vast majority of the world’s forwarders as customers for its transportation management, customs compliance and accounting tools. “More than 99% of the world’s ocean freight managed through CargoWise can be electronically booked directly with shipping lines and [non-vessel-operating common carriers],” Bjorn Schwarz, WiseTech’s integration and transformation manager, said in the statement. “Transparent real-time data sharing enables Tailwind to optimize their planning and capacity management and quickly act on market changes.” Schwarz said Tailwind customers using CargoWise benefit from a simplified booking experience that removes double data entry, eliminates unnecessary emails, reduces human errors, and enhances visibility and productivity. The companies said the plan is to extend the integration to eventually cover Tailwind’s rail and inland transport services. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Tailwind Shipping Lines, the vessel operating arm of supermarket retailer Lidl, said Wednesday it has integrated with CargoWise, the widely used forwarding software platform owned by WiseTech Global.  The move links CargoWise to a key customer segment that WiseTech has recently chased since acquiring software provider E2open in May 2025.  The integration with Tailwind enables forwarders to access within CargoWise the ocean booking, confirmation and management features for shipments moving on Tailwind vessels. That includes access to Tailwind’s schedules, dynamic rates and capacity, as well as the ability to digitally modify bookings without leaving CargoWise.  “The direct integration with CargoWise removes manual steps from the process and ensures data consistency from start to finish,” Nico Peters, vice president of commercial management at Tailwind, said in a statement. “It is a smarter, more digital shipping experience built around speed and accuracy, which exactly mirrors Tailwind’s key characteristics.”  Lidl launched Tailwind in 2022 amid global capacity constraints stemming from pandemic-induced container demand. The subsidiary has remained in business even as demand has normalized and now sells capacity to forwarders. It primarily handles the containerized transport of non-food goods, originally exclusively for Lidl, but now also for other customers.  Tailwind operates three liner services: the Panda Express Service (PAX) between China and the Mediterranean; the Tiger Express Service (TEX) between Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka; and the European short-sea operator Dolphin Express Service (DEX), which transports goods between Barcelona in Spain and Moerdijk in the Netherlands. Those services are built around schedule reliability by focusing on minimal port calls at smaller ports.  May extend to rail, inland services  While Tailwind is a container line, its affiliation with one of Europe’s largest retailers is notable, given WiseTech’s $2.1 billion acquisition of E2open in 2022. E2open’s customer base is largely shippers, and analysts have speculated since the transaction that WiseTech would target shippers more directly in the years ahead, given it already has the vast majority of the world’s forwarders as customers for its transportation management, customs compliance and accounting tools.  “More than 99% of the world’s ocean freight managed through CargoWise can be electronically booked directly with shipping lines and [non-vessel-operating common carriers],” Bjorn Schwarz, WiseTech’s integration and transformation manager, said in the statement. “Transparent real-time data sharing enables Tailwind to optimize their planning and capacity management and quickly act on market changes.”  Schwarz said Tailwind customers using CargoWise benefit from a simplified booking experience that removes double data entry, eliminates unnecessary emails, reduces human errors, and enhances visibility and productivity.  The companies said the plan is to extend the integration to eventually cover Tailwind’s rail and inland transport services.  Contact Eric Johnson at  eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Forwarding

Asia-Europe

Logistics Technology News

Shipper-turned-carrier integrates with CargoWise to target forwarder business

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Canada’s eastern-most port has completed the final phase of a project that has added a new berth and increased track capacity for handling intermodal rail. </div>

Canada’s eastern-most port has completed the final phase of a project that has added a new berth and increased track capacity for handling intermodal rail.

<div class="phx-topic">Canada’s Port of Saint John has completed a four-year project to upgrade its marine terminal that will quadruple its container handling capability; allow it to handle large, post-Panamax ships; and provide more intermodal rail capacity. The Port of Saint John said Tuesday that the C$247 million project at DP World’s Westside terminal was completed in December. The two-phase project — <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/saint-john-attracts-42-million-to-increase-port-capacity-5224858">funded primarily by the port along with the province of New Brunswick and Canada’s Transport Ministry</a> — has brought Saint John’s nominal capacity to 800,000 TEUs, up from 150,000 TEUs in 2021. The main feature of the work, part of the project’s first phase, is an additional 1,131-foot berth with a 56-foot depth alongside, allowing Saint John to handle vessels of 10,000 TEUs or larger. The largest ship that currently calls Saint John is approximately 7,000 TEUs. Saint John said it also increased laydown and yard space at the terminal. The terminal will also have expanded track capacity for building longer intermodal train blocks, making it capable of building blocks of roughly 8,000 feet, up from the original 3,000-foot length. The Port of Saint John is served primarily by Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), which has the shortest track distance between the port and eastern Canada’s major cities. But it also has service from Canadian National, as well as southbound connections into the US via CSX Transportation. The port said completion of the first phase of the project has already resulted in a 400% year-over-year increase in its container throughput, to 240,000 TEUs in 2025. Aligns with federal investment plan Although planned years ahead of time, Saint John’s terminal upgrades <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/canada-looks-for-new-container-gateways-for-decoupling-from-us-6122714">are aligned with the Canadian government’s goal announced in November</a> of investing C$5 billion in trade infrastructure, the port’s statement said. The investments in new trade infrastructure stem from Canada’s move to lessen its trade reliance on the US. Saint John “is a national asset that will help move more Canadian goods to global markets, more efficiently and reliably,” Canada’s Minister of Transport Steve MacKinnon said in the statement. Saint John primarily serves Canada’s trans-Atlantic trade, with vessel transits from European ports making up the majority of its vessel calls, according to data from Sea-web, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. The port also serves as a gateway for eastern Canada’s north-south trades with South America and the Caribbean. Saint John is also boosting its cold-chain capacity, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/americold-adding-port-saint-john-warehouse-as-part-of-cpkc-alliance-5933184">with Americold building a refrigerated warehouse</a> just outside the port that will connect to CPKC’s network. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Canada’s Port of Saint John has completed a four-year project to upgrade its marine terminal that will quadruple its container handling capability; allow it to handle large, post-Panamax ships; and provide more intermodal rail capacity. The Port of Saint John said Tuesday that the C$247 million project at DP World’s Westside terminal was completed in December. The two-phase project — funded primarily by the port along with the province of New Brunswick and Canada’s Transport Ministry — has brought Saint John’s nominal capacity to 800,000 TEUs, up from 150,000 TEUs in 2021. The main feature of the work, part of the project’s first phase, is an additional 1,131-foot berth with a 56-foot depth alongside, allowing Saint John to handle vessels of 10,000 TEUs or larger. The largest ship that currently calls Saint John is approximately 7,000 TEUs. Saint John said it also increased laydown and yard space at the terminal. The terminal will also have expanded track capacity for building longer intermodal train blocks, making it capable of building blocks of roughly 8,000 feet, up from the original 3,000-foot length. The Port of Saint John is served primarily by Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), which has the shortest track distance between the port and eastern Canada’s major cities. But it also has service from Canadian National, as well as southbound connections into the US via CSX Transportation. The port said completion of the first phase of the project has already resulted in a 400% year-over-year increase in its container throughput, to 240,000 TEUs in 2025. Aligns with federal investment plan Although planned years ahead of time, Saint John’s terminal upgrades are aligned with the Canadian government’s goal announced in November of investing C$5 billion in trade infrastructure, the port’s statement said. The investments in new trade infrastructure stem from Canada’s move to lessen its trade reliance on the US. Saint John “is a national asset that will help move more Canadian goods to global markets, more efficiently and reliably,” Canada’s Minister of Transport Steve MacKinnon said in the statement. Saint John primarily serves Canada’s trans-Atlantic trade, with vessel transits from European ports making up the majority of its vessel calls, according to data from Sea-web, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. The port also serves as a gateway for eastern Canada’s north-south trades with South America and the Caribbean. Saint John is also boosting its cold-chain capacity, with Americold building a refrigerated warehouse just outside the port that will connect to CPKC’s network. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

North American ports

Marine terminals

Canada’s Port of Saint John ready for larger ships, more containers

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The rapidly unfolding situation in Iran and threatened US military action there is posing a “real and significant” risk that attacks on merchant shipping in the region will resume, according to the head of the Global Shippers’ Forum. </div>

The rapidly unfolding situation in Iran and threatened US military action there is posing a “real and significant” risk that attacks on merchant shipping in the region will resume, according to the head of the Global Shippers’ Forum. 

<div class="phx-topic">Plans by ocean carriers to step up their resumption of Red Sea transits should be put on hold with escalating protests in Iran and direct military intervention threatened by the US representing a real security risk to the region, the Global Shippers’ Forum (GSF) warned Wednesday. While attacks on commercial shipping by Iran-sponsored Houthi militants in Yemen have quieted since October when a ceasefire was agreed to between Israel and Hamas, the rapidly unfolding situation in Iran could easily change that, GSF Director James Hookham said. “The risk of the Houthi resuming attacks on merchant shipping as a political response to any foreign intervention in Iran must be real and significant,” Hookham told the Journal of Commerce. Ocean carriers have been increasing their transits via the Suez and Red Sea recently, encouraged by the absence of Houthi attacks that began in late 2023 and forced lengthy diversions around southern Africa. A Red Sea diversion tracker launched Wednesday by maritime consultancy Drewry found that over the past few weeks some major carriers have joined their smaller regional counterparts in routing vessels through the Red Sea. Their data shows 26 container ships — the highest number in five weeks — sailed through the Suez Canal in the week ended Jan. 11. Lars Jensen, CEO of Vespucci Maritime and a Journal of Commerce contributor, said of the major carriers, CMA CGM was leading the pack and has been gradually increasing the number of services it operates through the Red Sea.  “The only two main Asia-Europe services that still don't fully use the Red Sea are their FAL1 and FAL3, where they go through on the backhaul but not on the head-haul,” Jensen told a webinar organized by visibility provider . "Maersk has had two trial shipments, one on Dec. 19 and another this week, calling them trial shipments,” he added. “They won't say when the next ones are, but it's clear that they are testing the waters.” Maersk has <a href="Maersk set to resume regular Suez transits on India-USEC 'MECL' loop: sources | Journal of Commerce">actually finalized operational plans to reinstate regular sailings</a> on its India-US East Coast “MECL” network to the traditional — and significantly shorter — Red Sea/Suez Canal route following the two uneventful trial passages over the past month, multiple sources told the Journal of Commerce. The normal schedule will take effect with a late January or early February vessel departure out of India.Hookham, however, noted that carriers have made it clear they would not return until the risks were almost negligible because they would not want to resume sailings and then be forced to re-divert back around southern Africa. "They set a very high bar for a return, virtually requiring ‘peace in the Middle East’ before they go back,” he said. “If they resume despite the situation in Iran, my question is why did they not return three months ago when the risk situation was probably lower than it is now?” US threats should be taken seriously Human rights groups report thousands of dead in Tehran’s crackdown on the protests, sparking a response from US President Donald Trump, who promised “help is on the way” with his national security team meeting Wednesday to discuss options.  What form any US intervention will take was not disclosed, but Hookham said the overt threats of military intervention by the US should be taken seriously following Washington’s capture and removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3. “All I have heard are the heavily qualified statements by Houthi spokespeople at the end of last year saying they would cease their attacks for now but will maintain their readiness and capabilities should the current situation change,” Hookham said. “There must be a very high risk it’s about to.” What is certain is that a heavily disrupted period will accompany a widescale return of voyages to the Red Sea and Suez, whenever it comes, with Jensen saying shippers can count on congestion across European hubs, soaring rates and plunging reliability until vessel schedules stabilize. “An inevitable effect is the first vessels that go through the Suez will overtake some of the vessels going around Africa, and that is going to create congestion issues up in Europe,” he said, pointing to the congestion and high rates that followed the start of the Red Sea attacks in late 2023.  How severe the congestion becomes depends on how rapidly carriers switch to the shorter route, but Jensen said the slow transition planned by carriers is likely to fail, largely because of shipper behavior. “It is likely quite a few shippers are going to prioritize the sudden ability to have their cargo moved on the shorter route where there will be a sharp increase in demand and a drop in demand for the services going around Africa,” Jensen told the webinar.  The rising demand for the Suez route will lead to an increase in rates, while carriers will need to shift capacity to the shorter route faster than planned to handle the volume, he noted. "If you look over the last two years at the ongoing Red Sea crisis, rapid changes in freight rates were the name of the game, and it can happen in just one or two weeks where rates expand by a few $1,000 per container,” Jensen said. “We might see similar moves here, with a huge arbitrage suddenly between the short and the longer routes.”  Another change Jensen said shippers should consider in their supply chain planning is that during the transition from the around-Africa voyages to Suez transits, vessel schedule reliability will drop by 30 to 35 percentage points. As the new networks fall into place, the on-time performance will gradually begin to recover to levels in place before the Houthi attacks began, he noted. “But once we are through this extremely turbulent changeover period and things have again stabilized, we will be in a state of global overcapacity,” Jensen warned. “There is no doubt about that.”  Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Plans by ocean carriers to step up their resumption of Red Sea transits should be put on hold with escalating protests in Iran and direct military intervention threatened by the US representing a real security risk to the region, the Global Shippers’ Forum (GSF) warned Wednesday.  While attacks on commercial shipping by Iran-sponsored Houthi militants in Yemen have quieted since October when a ceasefire was agreed to between Israel and Hamas, the rapidly unfolding situation in Iran could easily change that, GSF Director James Hookham said.  “The risk of the Houthi resuming attacks on merchant shipping as a political response to any foreign intervention in Iran must be real and significant,” Hookham told the Journal of Commerce.  Ocean carriers have been increasing their transits via the Suez and Red Sea recently, encouraged by the absence of Houthi attacks that began in late 2023 and forced lengthy diversions around southern Africa.  A Red Sea diversion tracker launched Wednesday by maritime consultancy Drewry found that over the past few weeks some major carriers have joined their smaller regional counterparts in routing vessels through the Red Sea. Their data shows 26 container ships — the highest number in five weeks — sailed through the Suez Canal in the week ended Jan. 11.  Lars Jensen, CEO of Vespucci Maritime and a Journal of Commerce contributor, said of the major carriers, CMA CGM was leading the pack and has been gradually increasing the number of services it operates through the Red Sea.   “The only two main Asia-Europe services that still don't fully use the Red Sea are their FAL1 and FAL3, where they go through on the backhaul but not on the head-haul,” Jensen told a webinar organized by visibility provider .  "Maersk has had two trial shipments, one on Dec. 19 and another this week, calling them trial shipments,” he added. “They won't say when the next ones are, but it's clear that they are testing the waters.”  Maersk has actually finalized operational plans to reinstate regular sailings on its India-US East Coast “MECL” network to the traditional — and significantly shorter — Red Sea/Suez Canal route following the two uneventful trial passages over the past month, multiple sources told the Journal of Commerce. The normal schedule will take effect with a late January or early February vessel departure out of India. Hookham, however, noted that carriers have made it clear they would not return until the risks were almost negligible because they would not want to resume sailings and then be forced to re-divert back around southern Africa.  "They set a very high bar for a return, virtually requiring ‘peace in the Middle East’ before they go back,” he said. “If they resume despite the situation in Iran, my question is why did they not return three months ago when the risk situation was probably lower than it is now?”  US threats should be taken seriously  Human rights groups report thousands of dead in Tehran’s crackdown on the protests, sparking a response from US President Donald Trump, who promised “help is on the way” with his national security team meeting Wednesday to discuss options.   What form any US intervention will take was not disclosed, but Hookham said the overt threats of military intervention by the US should be taken seriously following Washington’s capture and removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3.  “All I have heard are the heavily qualified statements by Houthi spokespeople at the end of last year saying they would cease their attacks for now but will maintain their readiness and capabilities should the current situation change,” Hookham said. “There must be a very high risk it’s about to.”  What is certain is that a heavily disrupted period will accompany a widescale return of voyages to the Red Sea and Suez, whenever it comes, with Jensen saying shippers can count on congestion across European hubs, soaring rates and plunging reliability until vessel schedules stabilize.  “An inevitable effect is the first vessels that go through the Suez will overtake some of the vessels going around Africa, and that is going to create congestion issues up in Europe,” he said, pointing to the congestion and high rates that followed the start of the Red Sea attacks in late 2023.   How severe the congestion becomes depends on how rapidly carriers switch to the shorter route, but Jensen said the slow transition planned by carriers is likely to fail, largely because of shipper behavior.  “It is likely quite a few shippers are going to prioritize the sudden ability to have their cargo moved on the shorter route where there will be a sharp increase in demand and a drop in demand for the services going around Africa,” Jensen told the webinar.   The rising demand for the Suez route will lead to an increase in rates, while carriers will need to shift capacity to the shorter route faster than planned to handle the volume, he noted.  "If you look over the last two years at the ongoing Red Sea crisis, rapid changes in freight rates were the name of the game, and it can happen in just one or two weeks where rates expand by a few $1,000 per container,” Jensen said. “We might see similar moves here, with a huge arbitrage suddenly between the short and the longer routes.”   Another change Jensen said shippers should consider in their supply chain planning is that during the transition from the around-Africa voyages to Suez transits, vessel schedule reliability will drop by 30 to 35 percentage points. As the new networks fall into place, the on-time performance will gradually begin to recover to levels in place before the Houthi attacks began, he noted.  “But once we are through this extremely turbulent changeover period and things have again stabilized, we will be in a state of global overcapacity,” Jensen warned. “There is no doubt about that.”   Contact Greg Knowler at  greg.knowler@spglobal.com . 

Regional security risk too high to consider Red Sea return: Global shipper group 

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The move follows the successful trial transits of the Maersk Sebarok in December and the Maersk Denver, which sailed through the waterway this week.</div>

The move follows the successful trial transits of the Maersk Sebarok in December and the Maersk Denver, which sailed through the waterway this week.

<div class="phx-topic">Maersk has finalized operational plans to reinstate regular sailings on its India-US East Coast “MECL” network to the traditional — and significantly shorter — Red Sea/Suez Canal route following two uneventful trial passages over the past month, multiple sources told the Journal of Commerce. The normal schedule will take effect with a late January or early February vessel departure out of India. “The MECL is going to go via the Suez on a permanent basis soon,” said a Maersk Middle East executive who did not want to be identified. Officially, the carrier declined to confirm details of the India/Suez plans when contacted by the Journal of Commerce. “We cannot comment on specific vessels’ schedules and potential deviations,” Maersk said. Following the successful transit of the Maersk Sebarok through the Suez and Red Sea in December, the carrier sent the Maersk Denver through the waterway this week; both vessels are part of the MECL service linking India to the US East Coast (USEC) and are not part of the Gemini Cooperation alliance between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd.<div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="ae1df54b-4003-46b5-a8c3-e0d35707e941"></dynamic-object></div>Major carriers have mostly avoided the Red Sea and Suez Canal since late 2023 when Houthi militants operating in Yemen began their attacks on commercial shipping to protest Israel’s move into Gaza. The weekly MECL features three ports of call out of West India — Mundra, Pipavav and Nhava Sheva. But the Danish liner has declared omissions to Mundra and Pipavav on two upcoming MECL voyages, the Maersk Hartford in Week 3 and the Maersk Chicago in Week 5. Grape cargo bookings for Europe Although Maersk <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/unexpected-margin-boost-in-q3-2025-to-lift-ocean-carriers-full-year-results-drewry-6151976">in a Jan. 12 customer advisory reiterated a “stepwise approach”</a> toward resuming Red Sea/Suez transits, there are other market signals on its firm Suez transit plans. Freight forwarder executives in Mumbai who spoke with the Journal of Commerce said the carrier has begun accepting grape cargo bookings from West India to Europe via the Suez that it is estimated will give shippers a six-day transit gain on average relative to the longer Cape of Good Hope passage, which is significant for perishables trades. Maersk will also move Indian grape containers on MECL vessels at Nhava Sheva for transshipment out of Salalah, Oman, to Rotterdam, sources said. But Maersk in a response to a Journal of Commerce query, said it had not started loading Europe cargo from India on the MECL. “We will explore it when the official [routing] changes happen,” the carrier said. The specialized reefer-centric Indian grape export trade has been a high-stakes bet for Maersk, even though it suffered marginal market share setbacks in the last season due to increased competition from Hapag-Lloyd. The Suez offering seems to be a strategic effort to regain lost volumes. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="56199e2b-5df4-468f-a149-b18ae7c32e51"></dynamic-object></div>Meanwhile, all major India-USEC carriers have reported strong cargo lifts in the current week, with most vessels overbooked due to tighter capacity stemming from smaller vessel deployments and blank sailings. CMA CGM’s first Suez-based “Indamex” westbound voyage, the CMA CGM Verdi that has an estimated departure of Jan. 17 from Nhava Sheva, has also closed bookings ahead of its declared gate cutoff, according to forwarder sources. Exports from India to the US East Coast have been on a steady decline since the middle of last year amid the tariff spat between Washington and New Delhi. Volumes into the USEC were 67,490 TEUs in November, down from 93,160 TEUs in August, according to data from PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. Spot rates on the trade, meanwhile, were pegged at $1,300 per FEU as of Jan. 13 by Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce. That is down from $1,400 per FEU a month ago. Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com.</a></div>

Maersk has finalized operational plans to reinstate regular sailings on its India-US East Coast “MECL” network to the traditional — and significantly shorter — Red Sea/Suez Canal route following two uneventful trial passages over the past month, multiple sources told the Journal of Commerce. The normal schedule will take effect with a late January or early February vessel departure out of India. “The MECL is going to go via the Suez on a permanent basis soon,” said a Maersk Middle East executive who did not want to be identified. Officially, the carrier declined to confirm details of the India/Suez plans when contacted by the Journal of Commerce. “We cannot comment on specific vessels’ schedules and potential deviations,” Maersk said. Following the successful transit of the Maersk Sebarok through the Suez and Red Sea in December, the carrier sent the Maersk Denver through the waterway this week; both vessels are part of the MECL service linking India to the US East Coast (USEC) and are not part of the Gemini Cooperation alliance between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd. Major carriers have mostly avoided the Red Sea and Suez Canal since late 2023 when Houthi militants operating in Yemen began their attacks on commercial shipping to protest Israel’s move into Gaza. The weekly MECL features three ports of call out of West India — Mundra, Pipavav and Nhava Sheva. But the Danish liner has declared omissions to Mundra and Pipavav on two upcoming MECL voyages, the Maersk Hartford in Week 3 and the Maersk Chicago in Week 5. Grape cargo bookings for Europe Although Maersk in a Jan. 12 customer advisory reiterated a “stepwise approach” toward resuming Red Sea/Suez transits, there are other market signals on its firm Suez transit plans. Freight forwarder executives in Mumbai who spoke with the Journal of Commerce said the carrier has begun accepting grape cargo bookings from West India to Europe via the Suez that it is estimated will give shippers a six-day transit gain on average relative to the longer Cape of Good Hope passage, which is significant for perishables trades. Maersk will also move Indian grape containers on MECL vessels at Nhava Sheva for transshipment out of Salalah, Oman, to Rotterdam, sources said. But Maersk in a response to a Journal of Commerce query, said it had not started loading Europe cargo from India on the MECL. “We will explore it when the official [routing] changes happen,” the carrier said. The specialized reefer-centric Indian grape export trade has been a high-stakes bet for Maersk, even though it suffered marginal market share setbacks in the last season due to increased competition from Hapag-Lloyd. The Suez offering seems to be a strategic effort to regain lost volumes. Meanwhile, all major India-USEC carriers have reported strong cargo lifts in the current week, with most vessels overbooked due to tighter capacity stemming from smaller vessel deployments and blank sailings. CMA CGM’s first Suez-based “Indamex” westbound voyage, the CMA CGM Verdi that has an estimated departure of Jan. 17 from Nhava Sheva, has also closed bookings ahead of its declared gate cutoff, according to forwarder sources. Exports from India to the US East Coast have been on a steady decline since the middle of last year amid the tariff spat between Washington and New Delhi. Volumes into the USEC were 67,490 TEUs in November, down from 93,160 TEUs in August, according to data from PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Spot rates on the trade, meanwhile, were pegged at $1,300 per FEU as of Jan. 13 by Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce. That is down from $1,400 per FEU a month ago. Contact Bency Mathew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com.

Maersk set to resume regular Suez transits on India-USEC ‘MECL’ loop – sources

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