Maersk’s renewed Red Sea transits signal growing carrier confidence. See what this means for capacity, rates, and reliability across global shipping.
It’s official, Maersk is about to complete their second East – West passage through the Red Sea with MAERSK DENVER. The 6200 TEU vessel is currently deployed on the Middle East – North America MECL1 service connecting India to the US East Coast and Gulf ports. The vessel went dark three days ago on January 10, echoing the cautious cloaking pattern of MAERSK SEBAROK and other vessels belonging to CMA CGM that have recently completed ad-hoc passages through the Red Sea. MAERSK SEBAROK transited the Suez Canal on December 23, and is scheduled to arrive in New York City, her first North American discharge port, today.
MAERSK DENVER currently remains dark, but Maersk confirmed her successful passage through the Bab-al-Mandeb strait yesterday afternoon. The vessel is forecasted by our team to arrive on January 16th.
What does this mean for Maersk? If the carrier completes two successful passages within a 3-week window, it’s highly likely they’ll increase the frequency of these trials in the immediate period ahead. This could take shape in using eastbound and westbound passages on the MECL1, additional vessels on this string, one-way transits on other services, or a combination of all three. Barring any sudden changes in Israel-Houthi relations, we can safely expect to see at least one more Maersk vessel making a westbound passage within the next week or two. (....)