CMA CGM reinstates Suez transits on India-US route

MARSEILLE : CMA CGM has taken the lead among major carriers in reinstating the traditional — and significantly shorter — Suez Canal route that the vast majority of vessels abandoned in late 2023 due to the Red Sea crisis.

The Marseille-based carrier’s Indamex service between West India and North America — arguably the most sought-after network by exporters on the trade lane — is set to resume operating on its full port rotation via the Suez, which will include calls to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Damietta, Egypt, in both directions, as well as Tanger Med, Morocco, on the westbound leg.

The Indamex servive schedules that, CMA CGM will redirect its Indian Subcontinent-US east coast Indamex service via Suez, from mid-November. The liner analyst said it expected the revised Suez routing to begin with the 9,700 teu CMA CGM Pellas, scheduled to depart Pakistan’s Port Qasim on 13 November. However, the most recent AIS reading of the vessel confirms it is still en route to Port Qasim and suggests it will only arrive on the day it is scheduled to leave.

Regardless, rerouting the service through the Red Sea and via the Suez Canal will have the effect of reducing the service’s round-trip voyage time by seven days – from 12 to 11 weeks – and also require one vessel fewer on the loop, also from 12 to 11.

Alphaliner claimed that both the Indamex and BEX2 services only deploy CMA CGM tonnage, although the eeSea liner database lists alliance partners Cosco, OOCL and Evergreen as minority vessel providers.

Although the Indamex service does not make a direct Lebanon call, it is likely to tranship Lebanese cargo at the Egyptian hub of Damietta.