EMEA News
CMA CGM Reverses Course on Red Sea Transits and Returns to Cape Route
French shipping firm CMA CGM is rerouting vessels on three services that had briefly returned to the Red Sea and Suez Canal, sending them back via the Cape of Good Hope route again.
The decision was taken amid what the company described as a complex and uncertain international environment, according to an advisory note issued to its customers on Tuesday.
"In light of the complex and uncertain international context, the CMA CGM Group is constantly and closely monitoring all potential impacts on its operations," the statement read.
Consequently, the company has decided for the time being to reroute vessels operating on its FAL 1, FAL 3, and MEX services via the Cape of Good Hope, adding that the decision will be kept under regular review.
Freight analytics firm Xeneta said that CMA CGM’s decision to pull back increases unpredictability for shippers.
“Shippers want certainty over when containers arrive at port, even if that means longer transit times around Cape of Good Hope,” Destine Ozuygur, Senior Market Analyst at Xeneta, said on Tuesday.
“Ironically, CMA CGM’s decision to play it safe and return services via Cape of Good Hope may lead shippers to perceive them as the riskier choice against their peers,” Ozuygur added
CMA CGM had resumed limited Red Sea transits for some vessels last year, including the 17,859 TEU CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin, which passed through the Suez Canal in November during a voyage from the UK to Malaysia.
While the move had raised hopes of a full-scale return to the route, those expectations have now been tempered by the group's decision to revert to Cape of Good Hope diversions.
Meanwhile, shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk announced this week that it is resuming its vessels' regular voyages through the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
