Maersk plans to reinstate regular Suez Canal transits on its India–US East Coast (MECL) service from late January or early February 2026, shortening transit times and signaling a cautious recalibration of Red Sea risk as market conditions evolve.
Maersk has finalized operational plans to resume regular sailings through the Red Sea and Suez Canal on its India–US East Coast(USEC) “MECL” service, following two uneventful trial transits conducted over the past month. According to market sources, the normal routing is expected to take effect with a late-January or early-February vessel departure from India.
This move marks a notable shift after more than a year of widespread carrier avoidance of the Red Sea corridor due to security risks linked to Houthi attacks on commercial shipping since late2023.
The weekly MECL service connects key West India gateways—Mundra, Pipavav, and Nhava Sheva—to the US East Coast. However, Maersk has already announced port omissions at Mundra and Pipavav on two upcoming sailings, underscoring that the return to Suez routing will be operationally phased rather than immediate across all rotations.
Maersk has declined to officially confirm specific vesselschedules, reiterating its position that routing adjustments willfollow a “stepwise approach.”
For shippers, the Suez Canal offers a materially shorter transitcompared with the Cape of Good Hope detour adopted by most carriersin 2024. Freight forwarders in Mumbai report that Maersk has begunaccepting grape export bookings from West India to Europe via Suez,delivering an estimated six-day transit time savings—acritical advantage for reefer and perishable cargo.
Sources also indicate that Indian grape containers may betransshipped via Salalah, Oman, onward to Rotterdam, highlighting howselective Suez transits can be leveraged to protect high-value,time-sensitive trades.
The Indian grape export segment is strategically important forMaersk, despite facing increased competition and marginal marketshare erosion in the previous season. The reinstated Suez routingappears aimed at regaining volume by restoring speed and reliabilityadvantages.
At the same time, broader India–USEC trade dynamics remain underpressure. Containerized exports from India to the US East Coast havedeclined steadily since mid-2025 amid ongoing tariff frictionsbetween Washington and New Delhi. Spot rates on the lane havecontinued to soften, even as carriers report short-term overbookingsdriven by reduced vessel deployments and blank sailings.
Maersk’s decision does not represent a wholesale normalizationof Red Sea transits. Rather, it reflects a more nuancedrisk-management posture now emerging across global linershipping:
For global shippers, this reinforces the need for agile logistics strategies that balance transit speed, cost, and geopolitical risk—particularly on Asia–Europe and Asia–North America trade lanes.
At Worldtop & Meta, we view this development as part of a broader industry transition toward dynamic routing and risk-responsive supply chain design, where flexibility is becoming as important as capacity.
