The news
Evergreen Marine’s 16,500-TEU Ever Eon became the carrier’s first ship to transit the Suez Canal in nearly three years, the Suez Canal Authority said.
The ship crossed on Nov 8 while sailing from the Netherlands to Singapore on the Ocean Alliance's NEU 7 service, which connects Asia and Northern Europe.
Evergreen’s Ocean Alliance partners had already returned to the canal. CMA CGM also maintained Red Sea services through much of the crisis.
Why it matters: The return of Asia-Europe services to the shorter Suez route cuts sailing distance, fuel consumption and transit times compared with voyages around the Cape of Good Hope.
The details
Container capacity through Suez has recovered to more than half its pre-crisis level, with Evergreen joining Maersk, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd and COSCO on the route. Ships with a combined capacity of 3 million TEUs crossed the canal in the four weeks to Oct 25, compared with 5.5 million TEUs in October 2023, Lloyd's List Intelligence data show.
That was more than double the capacity recorded in August.
More than 100 ultra-large containerships have transited since the start of September, exceeding the combined total for all of 2025 and the first eight months of 2026.
No attacks on ships have been reported since Aug. 24, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations center.
Security risks remain, particularly in the southern Red Sea, where the Houthis have declared an embargo on Saudi ports. Saudi-linked vessels have been attacked in the region in recent months.
Israeli carrier Zim has stayed off the Red Sea route.
Israel's Red Sea port of Eilat handled 16 ships in 2024. Its operators say the port is now unprofitable.
What’s next
Evergreen plans to route more voyages through the canal in the coming weeks, the Suez Canal Authority said.
(Photo: Ahmed Helal / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)
