The shipping company Ocean Network Express (ONE) has announced structural modifications to its connection network between Asia and Northern Europe. These variations apply to the FE1 and FE3 lines with the purpose of adjusting the regularity of the itineraries that travel around the Cape of Good Hope due to the situation in the Red Sea. The new configurations entail the elimination of the stops that both services had in the terminals of the port of Algeciras.
In the case of the FE1 line (Far East - Europe 1), the maritime corporation has introduced a direct connection with the port of Le Havre, France, from Southeast Asia. The current rotation included stops at the ports of Laem Chabang, Cai Mep, Singapore, transit through the Cape of Good Hope, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Algeciras, back via Good Hope, Singapore, and the return to Laem Chabang. With the new design, the stop in the southern Spanish enclave is eliminated from the sequence, so that the vessels will sail from Hamburg to Le Havre before starting the return route to Asia via Southern Africa. The inaugural voyage under this new configuration will be carried out by the vessel ONE Hamburg, which is expected to arrive at the Thai port of Laem Chabang on June 6, 2026, and at the French port of Le Havre on July 27, 2026.
For its part, the FE3 service (Far East - Europe 3) has undergone a reorganization aimed at reducing transit times to the terminals in Antwerp and Felixstowe. The previous itinerary of this line connected Qingdao, Ningbo, Yantian, Singapore, the passage through the Cape of Good Hope, Algeciras, Felixstowe, Hamburg, Antwerp, the return journey via Good Hope, and the arrival in Qingdao. The update of the service completely eliminates the stop at Algeciras. The modified route establishes that, after crossing the Cape of Good Hope, vessels will head directly to Felixstowe, subsequently continuing towards Antwerp and Hamburg, to then embark on the return route to Asian territory. This schedule will start with the navigation of the vessel HMM Dublin, which is scheduled to stop in Qingdao on June 11, 2026, and arrive at the British port of Felixstowe on July 29, 2026.
The restructuring carried out by the members of the maritime alliance operating these lines reconfigures the direct connectivity map of the Strait of Gibraltar with the main Asian export markets on these specific routes, redistributing cargo flows to the port facilities on the Atlantic front of Northern Europe.
ONE justifies the changes as an optimization of its network to offer faster transit times to Antwerp and Felixstowe on the FE3 and an expanded coverage with direct access to Le Havre from Southeast Asia on the FE1.
