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ContainerSignal Daily: Suez traffic hits high as spot rates ease

By ContainerSignal Editorial · · 12 min read

The Suez Canal handled 1,490 vessels in October, 32% more than in the same month of 2025, and collected US$724m in revenue, 94% more than the US$373m of a year earlier, the Suez Canal Authority said on 5 November. Net tonnage rose 86% to 88 million tonnes, and Egypt Today described the vessel count as the highest monthly traffic since the Red Sea crisis began in late 2023, Xinhua reported.

The traffic recovery is now visible in the rate data as well as the canal’s accounts. Drewry’s assessment for 5 November put 60% of Asia-Europe capacity back on the Suez route and counted 53 canal transits in the week, while its World Container Index fell 1% to US$4,389 per 40ft container as capacity availability improved.

Today’s Signals

Freight Rates

Drewry’s composite slipped for a second week, and the consultancy expects more on the Pacific. The World Container Index fell 1% to US$4,389 per 40ft container in the assessment for 5 November, Drewry said. Shanghai to New York dropped 3% to US$9,303 per 40ft while Shanghai to Los Angeles was unchanged at US$7,539. On Asia-Europe, Shanghai to Rotterdam fell 2% to US$3,615 and Shanghai to Genoa held at US$4,166. Average vessel waiting time at Shanghai improved to 35 hours last week as weather eased and demand softened, and Drewry counts three blank sailings on the transpacific for next week against five this week, which it reads as rising effective capacity.

Index (provider)Trade laneUnitPeriodLevelChangeSource
World Container Index (Drewry)Composite, eight east-west lanesper 40ftWeek to 5 Nov 2026US$4,389-1% week on weekDrewry
World Container Index (Drewry)Shanghai to Los Angelesper 40ftWeek to 5 Nov 2026US$7,539UnchangedDrewry
World Container Index (Drewry)Shanghai to New Yorkper 40ftWeek to 5 Nov 2026US$9,303-3% week on weekDrewry
World Container Index (Drewry)Shanghai to Rotterdamper 40ftWeek to 5 Nov 2026US$3,615-2% week on weekDrewry
World Container Index (Drewry)Shanghai to Genoaper 40ftWeek to 5 Nov 2026US$4,166UnchangedDrewry

Drewry attributed the easing to better capacity availability and softer demand at Chinese ports, and said it expects rates to decline further on the transpacific next week and to hold on Asia-Europe. Carriers are still pushing mid-November FAK increases on the Europe trade ahead of next year’s contract negotiations, but five blank sailings have been announced there for next week against eight this week, which is more effective capacity arriving in the same window as the increases. The guide to blank sailings explains why the count matters more than the headline rate. The composite is a weighted average of eight east-west lanes, and the guide to container freight rate indexes sets out how far the baskets behind these numbers differ.

Trade Routes

The canal’s October numbers are the clearest measure yet of how much capacity the Suez return releases. Drewry puts 60% of Asia-Europe capacity on the Suez route with 53 transits in the week to 5 November, and its own warning is that an accelerated return can produce overlapping arrivals from the Suez and Cape of Good Hope routings, which raises the risk of vessel bunching and cargo congestion at European ports. Traffic at that level shortens round voyages and releases ships per loop without a single delivery, the mechanism set out in the analysis of the half-finished Suez return.

Tailwind is taking its Far East to Mediterranean service back through Suez this month. The Panda Express will return to the canal route later in November on a rotation of Qingdao, Ningbo, Shenzhen (Dachan Bay), Port Klang, Koper, Barcelona, Port Klang and Qingdao, with Koper served before Barcelona, Container News reported, citing DynaLiners. The service keeps its fortnightly frequency with five ships of about 5,500 to 6,900 TEU instead of six, which is the capacity arithmetic of the switch in miniature: the same schedule needs one fewer vessel when the voyage is shorter.

Fleet & Capacity

Maersk confirmed 26 LNG dual-fuel ships totalling 483,600 TEU in its third-quarter report. Each vessel is 18,600 TEU, deliveries are scheduled for 2029 and 2030, and the series is equivalent to roughly 10% of the carrier’s operating fleet, gCaptain reported. Maersk has not disclosed the contract value or the yards. The order follows eight 18,600 TEU ships booked in February at New Times Shipbuilding for the same delivery window, and it continues a shift from methanol to LNG-capable propulsion: Maersk ordered 20 dual-fuel ships of 300,000 TEU in 2024 and has argued that the transition will need several fuel pathways rather than one.

MSC has reportedly added three 21,700 TEU ships at Shanghai Waigaoqiao. Each is understood to cost about US$210m, with deliveries in March, July and November 2029, which would take MSC’s programme at the yard to 13 vessels, Container News reported, citing DynaLiners. The order is reported rather than confirmed by the carrier. At that size the ships sit in the ultra-large class that only a handful of Asia-Europe and Asia-Mediterranean port pairs can take, which is why the guide to how container ships are sized treats berth and draft limits as part of the capacity question.

PIL ordered seven 1,400 TEU methanol-ready feeders at Huanghai Shipbuilding. The ships are 172 metres long and 25 metres wide, are due between 2029 and 2030, and will serve intra-Asia and Pacific Islands services, PIL said. They will carry pre-swirl vanes and propeller boss cap fins, plus fixed fire water monitors and cargo hold spray systems. The order is small in TEU terms and significant in kind: it is renewal tonnage for the relay network that feeds the mainline hubs, ordered methanol-ready rather than methanol-fuelled.

Carrier Updates

Hapag-Lloyd has completed its purchase of a 25% stake in APM Terminals Maasvlakte II. The deal, first announced in August 2026, closed after unconditional antitrust approval, with APM Terminals retaining operational control and the financial terms undisclosed, WorldCargo News reported. The terminal is a European hub for the Gemini Cooperation that Hapag-Lloyd runs with Maersk, and its expansion is expected to take annual handling capacity to about 5.4 million TEU. The stake sits inside Hanseatic Global Terminals, the carrier’s terminal arm, which is targeting a portfolio of up to 30 facilities.

Ports

Jawaharlal Nehru Port handled 865,000 TEU in October, up 27% year on year. Total cargo reached 10.12 million tonnes, 19.08% higher, and PSA Mumbai’s Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals set a monthly record at 312,179 TEU against 303,032 TEU in August 2026, Maritime Gateway reported, citing port data. October was about 3.6% above September’s 834,697 TEU, and the first seven months of the 2026-27 fiscal year are running 18.99% ahead on containers. The report notes that the port’s announcement does not split gateway from transshipment cargo or explain the October jump, so a single strong month is not yet a trend.

Regulation & Policy

The IMO Council has backed Arsenio Dominguez for a second term as Secretary-General. The endorsement at the Council’s 138th session in London would extend his mandate from 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2031, subject to approval by the IMO Assembly in late 2027, gCaptain reported, citing an IMO statement. The decision leaves him in place through a stalled climate file: member states adjourned the extraordinary MEPC session that was to adopt the Net-Zero Framework, and negotiators reconvene ahead of MEPC 85, scheduled for 30 November to 3 December, with a special session provisionally set for 4 December. The IMO’s own tally records 129 confirmed maritime incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East since the Iran war began in February, with 24 seafarers killed as of 5 November.

What It Means

The two halves of this market are now pulling in the same direction. October’s canal traffic, 60% of Asia-Europe capacity back on Suez and 53 transits in a week, is effective capacity arriving through shorter voyages, and it lands in the same fortnight as a 1% fall in the composite, a 2% fall on Shanghai to Rotterdam and a blanking programme that is shrinking rather than growing. Drewry’s read is that capacity availability, not demand, is setting the direction, and it expects the transpacific to weaken again next week.

The orderbook is a separate and slower force, but it points the same way. Maersk’s 483,600 TEU of LNG dual-fuel ships and MSC’s reported 21,700 TEU additions do not arrive until 2029, and Maersk presents its programme as replacement tonnage rather than growth. Neither changes this winter’s balance. What they do change is the shape of the next contract cycle: a carrier that has locked in 26 ships at 18,600 TEU has made a bet on 2030 volumes, while spot rates are already easing and forwarders are doubting the November increases.

For shippers the near-term risk has moved from scarcity to timing. Shorter Suez voyages plus overlapping Suez and Cape arrivals can bunch vessels into the same European berth windows, which is a congestion risk rather than a rate risk, and European hub congestion is already supporting prices on the Europe trades. The watchmen contract at Los Angeles and Long Beach runs to midnight Pacific time on Friday 6 November after two extensions, with talks continuing under federal mediation according to the Pacific Maritime Association, and a stoppage by that local would reach vessel, yard and gate operations at facilities handling most Long Beach container cargo. A quiet rate week is not the same as a settled market.

Sources

Background reading

The explainers behind today's stories, if you want the fundamentals first.

Asia-Europe rates are riding a half-finished Suez return

Sixty-three percent of Far East to Europe capacity now uses Red Sea routings, but many loops still return via the Cape. That gap explains the rate rebound.

World Container Index falls 3% as transpacific rates slide

Drewry's composite fell 3% to US$4,429 per 40ft as transpacific spot rates dropped, while Asia-Europe held and carriers pushed US$3,000 November increases.

The transpacific premium is mostly a capacity decision

Asia-US East Coast spot rates are more than three times Asia-North Europe. The gap reflects blanked capacity and Red Sea routing more than a demand boom.

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