ContainerSignal Daily: Suez returns add capacity as war risk rises

Container shipping has entered the post-Golden Week phase with capacity coming back and spot rates still easing, while the cost of moving a box through the Red Sea and the Gulf keeps climbing. Carriers are pressing ahead with Suez Canal routings even as attacks on merchant shipping continue, and Drewry has revised its base case after lines returned to the route ahead of the timeline it had projected. The same day brought the largest single expansion of EU sanctions listings since 2022, much of it aimed at shipyards, and an OOCL update showing carriers still earning far more per box than a year ago. Later additions to this briefing cover Evergreen’s read on the transpacific premium, Gemini’s restart of a direct Asia to Middle East loop, two November surcharge changes, the reopened talks over Rotterdam’s Omega terminal, Global Ship Lease’s US$1bn newbuilding loan and Rosatom’s full takeover of Delo Group.

Today’s Signals

Freight Rates

Drewry’s weekly cancellation tracker, published on 13 October, shows 34 blank sailings across the major east-west trades from week 42 (12 to 18 October) to week 46 (9 to 15 November), out of 713 planned sailings, a 5% cancellation rate with 95% of scheduled sailings expected to operate. Cancellations are concentrated on Asia to North Europe and the Mediterranean, which accounts for 50% of them, followed by the transpacific eastbound at 32% and the transatlantic at 18%. Drewry’s tracker repeats the World Container Index reading already reported: US$4,351 per 40ft container on 8 October, down 2% week on week, with the gradual return of services via Suez adding effective capacity on Asia-Europe and the Mediterranean. What is a blank sailing? explains how carriers use cancellations to manage capacity.

Other weekly benchmarks were mixed. NYSHEX’s Freight Index, published on 9 October, put Asia to US West Coast down 1.98% and Asia to US East Coast up 1.40% at 9,831.24, while transatlantic westbound rates eased 0.52% to 2,709.05 and eastbound rates rose 8.23% to 1,282.09, Container News reports. The same round-up puts the Freightos Baltic Index global composite at US$3,344, virtually unchanged from US$3,343, and Shanghai to Rotterdam down 2% at US$3,337 per 40ft with Shanghai to Genoa broadly unchanged at US$3,696. These indexes use different methods and reporting periods, so their absolute levels are not comparable; Container freight rate indexes explained sets out how each is built.

On intra-Asia, congestion at Asian gateways continues to distort short-haul pricing. Sea-Intelligence estimates that delays are absorbing 8.5% of the global containership fleet, roughly 3 million TEU, and calculates that returning to the low congestion levels recorded in June 2025 would take seven to 10 months, leaving the risk that backlogs persist into the pre-Chinese New Year rush, the Philippine Star reports. Drewry’s Intra-Asia Container Index is in record territory, with Shanghai to Laem Chabang up 22% to US$1,609 per 40ft container and Shanghai to Jakarta up 12% to US$2,300 per 40ft.

Evergreen’s general manager, Wu Kuang Hui, said on 9 October that the gap between the two main headhaul trades has become pronounced, describing the market as “strong on US routes, weak on Europe routes”, and that record import volumes at several major US ports, low inventories and firm consumer demand left no reason to be pessimistic about the transpacific before the lunar new year in 2027, The Loadstar reports. The same account puts the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index reading for that Friday at US$10,524 per 40ft container for Shanghai to the US East Coast and US$7,584 per 40ft for Shanghai to the US West Coast, both relatively stable, with Shanghai to Europe down 3% at US$2,274 per TEU. US imports from the Far East are running about 5.1% higher while volumes to Europe have grown 12.2%, but the weaker European economy has not converted that volume into pricing power, and the gradual Suez return keeps restoring effective capacity eastbound. Evergreen reported September revenue of TWD49.7bn (US$1.56bn), up 64% year on year, and TWD338.4bn (US$10.61bn) for the first nine months, up 15%, and operates 242 vessels with 2.04 million TEU, a 5.9% share, with a plan to reach about 290 vessels and 2.74 million TEU by 2030.

Carrier Updates

Orient Overseas Container Line reported a 45.1% year-on-year increase in third-quarter liner revenue to US$3.28 billion, on 2.12 million TEU of liftings, up 9%, and average revenue per TEU up 33.1%, according to its parent company’s 9 October operational update, FreightWaves reports. The trans-Pacific produced the largest revenue increase, up 71.8% to US$1.44 billion on 595,139 TEU, up 13.1%, while Asia-Europe liftings grew fastest, up 15.4% to 399,162 TEU, on revenue up 45% to US$695.8 million. Intra-Asia and Australasia remained the largest region by volume at 981,336 TEU, up 4.6%, with revenue up 23.7% to US$947.6 million, and transatlantic volumes rose 7.3% to 147,008 TEU on revenue up 11.9%. For the first nine months, liner revenue rose 18.9% to US$7.96 billion on 6.25 million TEU, up 6.5%. The update carried no earnings or expense figures and did not attribute the gains to specific market conditions.

CMA CGM will raise its Freight All Kinds rates from North Europe to India and Pakistan for cargo loaded from 1 November 2026. North Europe to Mundra moves to US$975 per 20ft from US$875 and to US$900 per 40ft or high cube from US$800, while North Europe to Karachi moves to US$1,100 per 20ft from US$1,075 and to US$1,100 per 40ft or high cube from US$1,000, Maritime Gateway reports. The published amounts include basic freight and bunker-related surcharges, with terminal handling, peak season and security charges additional. The carrier’s own notice on cma-cgm.com could not be fetched from this host, so the figures are cited as the trade press reports them.

Maersk will raise its Import and Export Fuel Surcharge for US inland haulage to US$215 per container from US$140, for shipments with a Price Calculation Date on or after 1 November 2026, Container News reports. The charge applies where Maersk arranges trucking to or from a customer’s door in the United States under a Maersk ocean bill of lading, and appears separately as IFS or EFS. Maersk attributed the change to a rise of more than US$0.10 per gallon in the 13-week average US diesel price.

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd will relaunch the FM1 service within their Gemini Cooperation, restoring a direct Asia to Middle East link. The first sailing is Maersk Athabasca on voyage 642W, due to leave Qingdao on 17 October 2026 and reach Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates on 16 November, on a rotation of Qingdao, Ningbo, Tanjung Pelepas, Khor Fakkan, Singapore and back to Qingdao. Maersk’s inland services will carry cargo onward across the Upper Gulf. Existing booking restrictions and cargo acceptance guidelines for the Middle East remain in effect, and the carriers said further Gemini adjustments stay subject to the security situation in the region, Container News reports.

MSC and Maersk will add a Suape call in Northeast Brazil to the service they share between the US Gulf and Mexico and the East Coast of South America, marketed as Gulf to SAEC I by MSC and as UCLA by Maersk. The first call is scheduled for 26 October 2026 by MSC Yamuna VI on voyage 640S, placed southbound between Cartagena and Santos on a rotation that also takes in Veracruz, Altamira, Houston, Itapoá, Paranaguá, Itajaí and Rio de Janeiro. Maersk said the revised rotation will support cargo to Manaus through its inland and ocean connections, Container News reports.

Two more surcharge changes land within the next month. CMA CGM will apply a Rate Restoration Initiative of US$300 per TEU in both directions between Oceania and the Americas from 2 November 2026, on cargo from Oceania to the US East Coast, Canada East Coast, US Gulf and Latin America and on cargo moving the other way, covering dry containers, reefer, out of gauge shipments and paying empties, Container News reports. Maersk will raise its Intermodal Fuel Fee for truck transport in Honduras from 10% to 14% for both import and export cargo, applying to non-FMC shipments from 9 October 2026 and to FMC-regulated shipments from 9 November 2026 and shown separately on invoices as the Export Fuel Surcharge or Import Fuel Surcharge, Container News reports.

Ports

The Chittagong Port Authority and DP World have signed a 15-year concession for the operation and maintenance of the New Mooring Container Terminal, including its overflow container yard, under a public-private partnership, Port Strategy reports. The terminal stays in Chittagong Port Authority ownership while DP World runs it for the term.

DP World has completed a £60 million crane investment at Southampton with the arrival of two further quay cranes, Port Strategy reports. The terminal handles about two million containers a year, according to the port, and the crane programme lifts its ability to handle the largest container ships, following earlier calls by the largest vessels in the container and automotive categories this year.

Port Houston has completed its sections of Project 11, widening the Houston Ship Channel’s Galveston Bay reach by 170 feet to 700 feet (52 metres to 213 metres) and creating habitat that includes 10 acres of bird islands, 324 acres of oyster reefs and 800 acres of marsh from dredged material, Port Strategy reports. Restrictions on daylight transits for larger vessels along the 700-foot reach were eased in 2025, and more than US$140 million of the programme came from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

In the Philippines, the Philippine Ports Authority is pressing shipping lines to open additional empty container return yards, with general manager Jay Santiago calling them the fastest and most effective way to ease congestion at the country’s ports, the Daily Tribune reports. Santiago linked the shortage of storage space to an import-export imbalance that leaves more empty containers in the Philippines than leave it, and said an earlier container registry and monitoring scheme was suspended after industry opposition.

The Port of Gothenburg has completed reinforcement of the westernmost 700 metres of its container terminal’s south quay as part of the Skandia Gateway project, with blasting and dredging due to begin on 13 October, WorldCargo News reports.

Talks over the proposed Omega container terminal in Rotterdam have restarted. Dutch unions FNV Havens and CNV said Hutchison Ports Delta II management confirmed on 1 October 2026 that negotiations with Terminal Investment Limited, MSC’s terminal investment arm, had resumed, without disclosing their content or progress. According to the union, the Port of Rotterdam Authority wants clarity on whether the project will go ahead before 1 January 2027 and could offer the site to other interested parties if it does not, while FNV questioned the reliability of that deadline given earlier slippage. Omega was announced in August 2022 as a joint development for the Europahaven area of Maasvlakte I, taking in the northern section of Hutchison Ports ECT Delta and the Delta II site, with five deep-sea berths, about 2.6 kilometres of quay and a designed capacity of 6 million to 7 million TEU a year. Those figures come from the original announcement and have not been reconfirmed, and no agreement or investment decision has been announced, Container News reports.

Trade Routes

The return of Asia-Europe services to Suez continues despite a deteriorating security picture. An attack on CU Lines’ 2,400 TEU CUL Klang, reported to have come under small arms fire in the southern Red Sea last week, has not deterred other carriers, The Loadstar reports. Drewry’s head of container research, Simon Heaney, has adjusted the analyst’s base case to a phase-back of Suez transits starting in July or August, reaching 80% of pre-diversion levels by February 2027 and holding at that level through the forecast horizon. Heaney’s slot cost comparison shows only a marginal economic benefit to Suez, saving approximately US$1 million per round voyage, or US$43 per slot, for two services deploying 24,000 TEU ships via Suez rather than the Cape of Good Hope in both directions, before war-risk premiums and discretionary canal discounts are counted. On Drewry’s arithmetic, a war-risk premium of 0.3% of hull value on a 24,000 TEU ship with a US$225 million newbuild price would add about US$1.35 million to a round voyage, which on its own would tip the advantage to the Cape. Carriers have introduced surcharges to cover the cost: MSC extended its Piracy Risk and Suez Canal surcharges through October at US$91 per TEU, US$55 of piracy risk and US$36 of canal charges, which on a fully loaded 24,000 TEU ship could total US$2.18 million. Heaney notes insurers are known to rebate around 50% for voyages completed without incident. Antonis Rigalos of the shipper negotiating network ShiftX told a Journal of Commerce webinar that ad hoc Suez routings create insurance problems, because some insurers do not cover Suez and cover has to be sought at short notice, although reports from members suggest the extra cost is manageable so far.

In the Gulf, six commercial vessels were reported struck in and around the Strait of Hormuz on 11 October, five tankers and a container ship, with UKMTO issuing five further warnings, four of them time-late reports, gCaptain reports. The inbound container ship was struck by an unidentified projectile while transiting the strait. Most reports gave no detail on casualties or damage, and UKMTO confirmed the crew of one outbound tanker was safe. The Joint Maritime Information Center keeps the Strait of Hormuz threat at SEVERE, its second-highest classification, and warns further deliberate attacks on merchant shipping are highly likely. For container lines the direct exposure runs through services calling Gulf ports and the war-risk premiums that attach to them.

South Korea completed its first container round trip to Europe via the Arctic, with the 2,758 TEU Panstar Acro docking in Busan on 11 October, 50 days after leaving on 22 August and calling at Felixstowe, Rotterdam and Gdansk, gCaptain reports. President Lee Jae Myung said the one-way sailing time was about 10 days shorter than the Suez route, and the government aims to establish a regular Arctic service by 2030. The 2011-built ship, acquired from HMM in August and ice-strengthened for the voyage, ran along Russia’s Northern Sea Route with clearance from Russian authorities. The Maritime Executive reported that the trip was not a commercial success, and that the ministry will examine voyage time, operating costs and fuel consumption before deciding on further trials.

Fleet & Capacity

Matson christened the Makua, the first of three new Aloha Class Jones Act containerships, at Hanwha Philly Shipyard on 10 October, gCaptain reports. The 3,600 TEU ship measures about 850 feet and is due for delivery in the first quarter of 2027, entering Matson’s Hawaii and China-Long Beach Express networks, with the second vessel due in the third quarter of 2027 and the third in the second quarter of 2028 under a programme worth roughly US$1 billion that replaces three existing ships. How container ships are sized places a 3,600 TEU ship in the wider fleet.

The 5,593 TEU HMM Platinum was still bound for a South African port of refuge on 12 October after a container fire, with its AIS showing restricted manoeuvrability, The Maritime Executive reports. TradeWinds reported that all crew were safe and the ship’s propulsion was normal, with its destination unclear, and HMM says the cause will be investigated once the vessel reaches refuge. The fire was first notified by claims consultants W.E. Cox, with the ship sailing from Kattupalli in India to Santos in Brazil and salvors appointed under Lloyd’s Open Form.

Global Ship Lease has signed a US$1bn syndicated seven-year loan to fund its newbuilding programme, at a margin of 1.5% over SOFR, drawn in stages as its first 15 contracted ships deliver between late 2028 and 2030. All 15 already hold long-term charter employment, eight banks are in the facility with Bank of America as bookrunner, mandated lead arranger, facility agent and security agent, and chief financial officer Tassos Psaropoulos put the margin 550 basis points below what the company could borrow five years ago. GSL returned to newbuilding earlier this year with 10 midsize containerships worth about US$917m and then added five more for US$413m, a combined programme of roughly US$1.33bn on charters averaging 7.1 years, before exercising options this month on two further ships worth about US$163m, taking its orderbook to 17 vessels and committed newbuilding investment to about US$1.49bn. The two latest ships have no charter employment yet, Splash 247 reports.

Regulation & Policy

The European Union has extended sanctions to some of Russia’s most important shipyards in its largest single expansion of listings since February 2022, adding 826 companies and 743 executives, gCaptain reports. The designations include Admiralty Shipyards, Sevmash, the Amur Shipbuilding Plant, Severnaya Verf, Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center, Dalzavod and the Vyborg, Sredne-Nevsky, Nevsky and Vympel yards, several of which build commercial as well as military vessels. The measures impose asset freezes and bar EU persons and companies from making funds or economic resources available to the designated entities, but do not by themselves prohibit Russian-built vessels or commercial ships from the affected yards.

BIMCO’s documentary committee has approved the Energy Saving Device Retrofit Addendum 2026, a standard contractual framework for owners and charterers to negotiate who pays for energy-saving retrofits during an existing time charter and how the resulting fuel savings are shared, Splash 247 reports. The addendum sets no fixed percentages, is technology-neutral and will be published through BIMCO’s SmartCon platform. What is the EU Emissions Trading System for shipping? covers the cost side of vessel efficiency.

Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom has taken full ownership of Delo Group, one of the country’s largest container transport and logistics operators, buying the 51% held by founder Sergei Shishkarev after holding 49% since 2019. Rosatom said it will combine Delo with its existing logistics businesses, including the shipping and transport operator FESCO, to build what it calls Russia’s largest national logistics company, a group it says would account for about 50% of Russian container handling and 44% of rail container transport, on the company’s own assessment. Delo’s infrastructure includes seven marine terminals and 46 inland terminals, with marine handling capacity of about 3.5 million TEU a year and inland capacity of about 3.6 million TEU, some 40,000 container flatcars and a container fleet of about 220,000 TEU, with port operations on the Black Sea, the Baltic and in the Russian Far East. The ownership change was announced on 7 October 2026 and no timetable has been given for the wider consolidation; Rosatom also holds responsibility for developing the Northern Sea Route, Container News reports.

What It Means

Capacity is coming back into the east-west network and the headline indexes are still drifting lower, but the routing decision that produces those rates is no longer a simple cost calculation. Drewry’s own figures put the Suez advantage at roughly US$43 per slot before war-risk premiums and canal discounts, and the surcharge structures carriers use to recover insurance and canal costs can add millions of dollars per voyage, all of which lands on the invoice in a market where the base rate is falling. For shippers and BCOs the practical tasks are to confirm the routing on the service they book, check that cargo insurance covers that routing before it changes, and treat November’s scheduled increases, CMA CGM’s north Europe to India and Pakistan table and Maersk’s US inland fuel surcharge among them, as line items a lower base rate will not offset. Two variables can still change that arithmetic: congestion in Asia, where Sea-Intelligence puts a seven to 10 month horizon on clearing delays that are absorbing 8.5% of the fleet, and the security situation around the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Strait of Hormuz, which is now the main input into insurance cost rather than into the headline index.

Three threads run through the additions above. Carriers are rebuilding direct service where they judge the risk manageable, with Gemini restoring the Asia to Khor Fakkan link from 17 October and MSC and Maersk widening their US Gulf to South America rotation from 26 October, so shippers on those lanes should recheck rotations and transit times rather than assume the previous sailing pattern. The surcharge stack keeps growing while the headline indexes fall, with CMA CGM’s US$300 per TEU Oceania and Americas increase and Maersk’s Honduras fuel fee moving from 10% to 14%, both landing in November for FMC-regulated cargo. And the money to build ships is still cheap: Global Ship Lease’s US$1bn facility at 1.5% over SOFR, with all 15 initial ships already chartered, shows lessors will still add tonnage on long commitments, which argues against a sustained capacity squeeze once the current congestion and the Suez transition ease.

Sources

• Drewry, Cancelled Sailings Tracker, via Hellenic Shipping News (13 October 2026): https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/drewry-cancelled-sailings-tracker-shows-capacity-gradually-returning/
• Drewry, World Container Index assessment for the week to 8 October 2026: https://www.drewry.co.uk/supply-chain-advisors/world-container-index-assessed-by-drewry
• Container News, Container freight rates weaken as Asia-Europe decline continues: https://container-news.com/container-freight-rates-weaken-as-asia-europe-decline-continues/
• Maritime Gateway, CMA CGM FAK rates rise on North Europe-India and Pakistan routes: https://www.maritimegateway.com/cma-cgm-fak-rates-rise-on-north-europe-india-and-pakistan-routes/
• CMA CGM, FAK rates from North Europe to India and Pakistan (carrier notice, not fetchable from this host): https://www.cma-cgm.com/news/5638/fak-rates-from-north-europe-scandinavia-baltic-uk-to-india-amp-pakistan
• Container News, Maersk raises US inland fuel surcharge: https://container-news.com/maersk-raises-us-inland-fuel-surcharge/
• FreightWaves, OOCL revenue up 45.1% on trans-Pacific surge (OOCL operational update, 9 October 2026): https://www.freightwaves.com/news/oocl-revenue-up-45-1-on-trans-pacific-surge
• Journal of Commerce, OOCL revenue, volume boosted by robust Q3 on trans-Pacific, Asia-Europe: https://joc.com/article/oocl-revenue-volume-boosted-by-robust-q3-on-trans-pacific-asia-europe-6303891
• The Loadstar, Shippers stressing over risks from Suez Canal and Red Sea transits (12 October 2026): https://theloadstar.com/shippers-stressing-over-risks-from-suez-canal-and-red-sea-transits/
• gCaptain, Six Ships Struck in Single Day as Hormuz Attacks Accelerate (UKMTO and JMIC reports): https://gcaptain.com/new-reports-reveal-five-more-ships-hit-near-hormuz/
• gCaptain, South Korea Completes Arctic-Europe Maritime Commercial Voyage: https://gcaptain.com/south-korea-completes-arctic-europe-maritime-commercial-voyage/
• The Maritime Executive, South Korean Containership Completes Demonstration Arctic Voyage: https://maritime-executive.com/article/south-korean-containership-completes-demonstration-arctic-voyage
• gCaptain, Matson Christens First Aloha Class Containership at Hanwha Philly Shipyard: https://gcaptain.com/matson-christens-first-of-three-new-aloha-class-containerships-at-hanwha-philly-shipyard/
• The Maritime Executive, HMM Containership Heading to Port of Refuge Due to Container Fire: https://maritime-executive.com/article/hmm-containership-heading-to-port-of-refuge-due-to-container-fire
• Port Strategy, DP World signs 15-Year Chittagong Port deal: https://www.portstrategy.com/news/concessions-investments/dp-world-signs-15-year-chittagong-port-deal/
• Port Strategy, Southampton completes UK£60m crane investment: https://www.portstrategy.com/news/container-cargo-handling/southampton-completes-60m-crane-investment/
• Port Strategy, Port Houston completes key Project 11 upgrades: https://www.portstrategy.com/news/expansion-development/port-houston-completes-key-project-11-upgrades/
• Daily Tribune, PPA pushes more empty container yards to ease port congestion: https://tribune.net.ph/2026/10/10/ppa-pushes-more-empty-container-yards-to-ease-port-congestion
• WorldCargo News, Gothenburg moves to next phase of Skandia Gateway: https://www.worldcargonews.com/dredging-reclamation/2026/10/gothenburg-moves-to-next-phase-of-skandia-gateway/
• Philippine Star, Asian port congestion seen lasting until 2027 (Sea-Intelligence and Drewry intra-Asia data): https://philstar.com/business/2026-10-13/2562720/asian-port-congestion-seen-lasting-until-2027/amp
• gCaptain, EU Targets Major Russian Shipyards in Sweeping Sanctions Expansion: https://gcaptain.com/eu-targets-major-russian-shipyards-in-sweeping-sanctions-expansion/
• Splash 247, BIMCO moves to break ship retrofit cost deadlock: https://splash247.com/bimco-moves-to-break-ship-retrofit-cost-deadlock/
• The Loadstar, Strong US import demand will support transpacific rates till new year (13 October 2026): https://theloadstar.com/strong-us-import-demand-will-support-transpacific-rates-till-new-year/
• Container News, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd relaunch FM1 service: https://container-news.com/maersk-and-hapag-lloyd-relaunch-fm1-service/
• Container News, MSC and Maersk add Suape to Americas service: https://container-news.com/msc-adds-suape-call-to-gulf-saec-i-service/
• Container News, CMA CGM announces rate increases on Oceania and Americas trades: https://container-news.com/cma-cgm-announces-rate-increases-on-oceania-americas-trades/
• Container News, Maersk raises Honduras intermodal fuel fee: https://container-news.com/maersk-raises-honduras-intermodal-fuel-fee/
• Container News, MSC and Hutchison resume talks over Rotterdam Omega terminal project: https://container-news.com/msc-and-hutchison-resume-talks-over-rotterdam-omega-terminal-project/
• Splash 247, Global Ship Lease locks in $1bn loan for boxship spree: https://splash247.com/global-ship-lease-locks-in-1bn-loan-for-boxship-spree/
• Container News, Rosatom takes full control of Delo Group in major Russian logistics consolidation: https://container-news.com/rosatom-takes-full-control-of-delo-group-in-major-russian-logistics-consolidation/