Maersk continues with the gradual recovery of its transits through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. The company has announced a structural reconfiguration of its MECL service, which connects India, the Middle East, and the east coast of the United States, to once again operate through the trans-Suez corridor, following the recent change applied to the AE15 service and the transit made by the Majestic Maersk through the Red Sea.
The MECL service, operated solely by Maersk, will stop using the alternative route around the Cape of Good Hope and will resume sailing through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. The shipping company believes this corridor remains the fastest and most efficient way to connect traffic between Asia, the Middle East, and the Atlantic coast of the United States, compared to sailing around the southern tip of Africa.
The modification will reduce transit times for the service. According to the information provided by the company to its clients, westbound departures will see an average improvement of seven days, while eastbound rotations will reduce their times by an average of fourteen days. This difference is due to the impact that the route around the Cape of Good Hope has had on the duration of journeys since major shipping companies diverted part of their services for security reasons in the Red Sea area.
The first vessels of the MECL service that will operate under this new configuration have already been identified by Maersk. Westbound, the first departure on the trans-Suez route will correspond to the Maersk Denver, on voyage 627W. Eastbound, the first vessel will be the Maersk Chicago, on voyage 624E.
The reconfiguration of the service will also include a new stop in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for eastbound departures. Maersk expects this addition to come into effect during August, with the aim of serving this market within the rotation between the United States, the Middle East, and India.
With the addition of Jeddah, the eastbound rotation of the MECL service will be configured with stops in Charleston, Savannah, Houston, Norfolk, Newark, Tangier, Jeddah, Salalah, Mundra, Pipavav, and Nhava Sheva. This structure maintains the connection between the main ports of the U.S. east coast and the port enclaves of the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian subcontinent.
The decision is part of Maersk's gradual return process to the Suez Canal corridor, after months of diversions caused by instability in the Red Sea. The company has indicated that it will maintain close monitoring of the security situation in the Middle East and that the protection of crews, vessels, and cargo will continue to be its main operational criterion.
Maersk has stated that it has contingency plans in case the security situation changes and specific departures need to be returned, or even the entire service, to the route around the Cape of Good Hope.