Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd's Gemini Cooperation is moving its AE15 Asia-Mediterranean-Europe service back through the Suez Canal, starting with the Majestic Maersk. The move replaces the longer Cape of Good Hope route with the shorter Suez transit.
This is Gemini’s first new structural Suez commitment since reversing an earlier attempt in March. The alliance is testing the route one service at a time rather than resetting the whole network.
Maersk said it does “not currently have further plans to change other Gemini services.” It also said contingency plans are in place to send AE15 back around the Cape if the security situation worsens.
The rotation: The rerouted AE15 will call Qingdao, Gwangyang, Ningbo, Tanjung Pelepas, Port Said, Damietta, Colombo and Singapore.
Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd describe the move as a step toward “a gradual return to a trans-Suez network,” not a network-wide switch. The advisory explicitly rules out “a full East-West network change” for now.
Why the caution: Gemini already tried this once. Earlier this year, the alliance sent its ME11 and MECL services through Suez, but reversed both by March 1 as fighting in the Middle East escalated and Maersk suspended all Strait of Hormuz crossings.
AE15 is the first new Suez commitment since that reversal. It is not a repeat of the earlier move.
The buffer: The alliance’s network was engineered for exactly this kind of reroute and reversal. Gemini’s hub-and-spoke design uses dedicated shuttle capacity and built-in schedule buffers. It hit 93.2% schedule reliability in June 2025, well above the industry’s historical 50% norm.
That buffer lets Gemini shift a single service like AE15 without dragging down reliability across the rest of the network if it has to reverse course again.
Across the alliances: Carriers are moving at different speeds. CMA CGM was one of the earliest to return to Suez. Hapag-Lloyd had been the most cautious of the three on its own and is only making the move now through the shared Gemini structure with Maersk.
Asia-Mediterranean spot rates, the lane AE15 partly serves, have also pulled sharply away from Asia-North Europe rates. Sea-Intelligence said the gap is the widest since 2022. It linked part of the split to Hormuz-related cargo shifting into the Mediterranean.
Gemini is watching one service before deciding whether to send any others back through the canal.
