MSC has decided to partially restore transits through the Suez Canal on a limited number of its East-West services, following a review of security and operational conditions in the Red Sea region. The measure, communicated by the company, will apply to rotations both westbound and eastbound and will start with five specific trips distributed across four regular routes between the Far East, India, and the Mediterranean basin, several with stops at Spanish ports.
The first transit will correspond to the Jade service, which links Asia with the Mediterranean with scheduled stops in Valencia and the Port of Barcelona. It will be covered by the ship MSC Michel Cappellini, voyage GJ632E eastbound, departing from Abu Kir (Egypt) on August 24, 2026. On the same day, the MSC Josefina will depart from Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) to operate the Albatros service between Asia and northern Europe (voyage GA630E, eastbound). Also on August 24, the MSC Anna will set sail from Singapore, voyage GT629W of the Tiger service, which connects Asia with the Mediterranean westbound.
This Tiger service will also have an eastbound rotation operated by the MSC Tina, voyage GT632E, departing from Mersin (Turkey) on August 20. The fifth piece of the deployment corresponds to the Himalaya service, which connects India with the Mediterranean including a stop in Valencia, and which will be operated by the MSC Beryl (voyage IS632A, westbound) departing from the Indian port of Vizhinjam on August 31. Individual booking confirmations and the stops published in the online plans will be updated progressively, according to the company.
MSC's move completes the return, at least partially, of the four largest global container carriers and the three major shipping alliances to the Red Sea corridor, after the massive diversions around the Cape of Good Hope that began at the end of 2023 following attacks by Houthi militias against merchant traffic. The CEO of the consulting firm Vespucci Maritime, Lars Jensen, has noted that the move by the Italian-Swiss firm consolidates the presence in the area of Gemini (Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd), Ocean Alliance (CMA CGM and COSCO), and Premier Alliance (ONE, HMM, and Yang Ming), the latter through capacity-sharing agreements it maintains with MSC on various links.
