Premier Alliance will again take its FE1 service through the Suez Canal between Southeast Asia and Northern Europe starting in October, after maintaining this connection via the Cape of Good Hope since early 2024. The modification will affect the line operated by Ocean Network Express (ONE), HMM, and Yang Ming and will begin with the journey of the container ship ONE Continuity from Laem Chabang, Thailand, scheduled for October 17.
According to information published by the consultancy Linerlytica, the FE1 will maintain stops in Laem Chabang, Cai Mep, Singapore, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Le Havre before returning to Asia. The change replaces the detour around Africa with transit through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, with no changes to the European ports that have been part of the service's rotation since June.
The current configuration results from a revision communicated by ONE on May 28. Until then, the FE1 was following the sequence Laem Chabang, Cai Mep, Singapore, Cape of Good Hope, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Algeciras, Cape of Good Hope, Singapore, and Laem Chabang. The shipping company then removed the stop in Algeciras and added Le Havre, effective from the voyage of ONE Hamburg that departed Laem Chabang on June 6.
The Estrecho Digital then reported the withdrawal of Algeciras from both the FE1 and the FE3 services. In this latter service, ONE also modified the rotation between Asia and Northern Europe and eliminated the Algeciras stop, while maintaining navigation via the Cape of Good Hope. Therefore, the absence of Algeciras in the FE1, which is now returning to Suez, does not respond to the modification announced for October, but rather to the reorganization carried out four months earlier.
The return of the FE1 through Suez constitutes the first change of Premier Alliance since the route from the Cape to this corridor since its services were diverted in January 2024, according to Linerlytica. The first vessel assigned to this configuration will be the ONE Continuity, with a capacity of 8,110 TEU.
The movement occurs during a period in which other shipping companies are also recovering certain transits through the Red Sea. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd announced changes in September in several Gemini Cooperation services to replace navigation via the Cape of Good Hope with the route through Suez. Among them are the AE5, AE11, AE12, and ME2 lines, along with other services that the companies have subsequently integrated into this route.
Some of those rotations maintain a direct relationship with Algeciras. Maersk announced that the AE5 between Asia and Northern Europe includes the port of Algeciras in its eastbound route before returning toward Suez, while the AE12 between Asia and the Mediterranean includes two stops in Algeciras. The ME2, between India and Europe, also includes the enclave of the Strait in its configuration.
Hapag-Lloyd also confirmed at the end of September the change of the NE4, SE1, SE2, and IEX services towards the Red Sea. In the case of the NE4, the first eastbound departure with this configuration left Algeciras on September 22 aboard the Maastricht Maersk. For the SE1, the company has set the first westbound departure from Tanjung Pelepas on October 27 and the first eastbound from Algeciras on December 5.
MSC also communicated in September a partial recovery of transits through Suez in certain services. The shipping company announced the return of the Indusa to the Red Sea only for westbound cargo, while traffic eastbound continues operating via the Cape of Good Hope. The company indicated that these changes apply individually and are subject to the evolution of operational and safety conditions.
Data collected by Splash from Maritime Strategies International suggest that approximately 35% of departures between Asia and Europe are already using the Red Sea. The same source cites calculations from Linerlytica that account for more than 140 container ships, with a combined capacity exceeding two million TEU, that have returned to Suez routes since May.
The FE1 from Premier Alliance joins this process starting with the departure of the ONE Continuity scheduled for October 17. The sequence of stops maintains Laem Chabang, Cai Mep, Singapore, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Le Havre, while the modification focuses on the maritime corridor used between Asia and Europe. Algeciras has remained out of the FE1 since the reorganization implemented by ONE in June.
