Carriers Make Cautious Return to the Red Sea

Source: French Armed Forces

The shipping industry remains very cautious about returning to the Suez Canal on a large scale, but vessel tracking tools are closely monitoring a few ships that are carefully re-entering the region that has been avoided by many carriers due to the attack campaign by Yemen's Houthi forces.

The First Movers

French container line CMA CGM is sending its two 17,859 TEU sister ships, the CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin and the CMA CGM Zheng He, from Europe to Asia via the Suez Canal. This is part of the Ocean Alliance's NEU4 service loop, marking the first return of an alliance service to the Red Sea since late 2023.

Meanwhile, the sanctioned Russian LNG carrier, Arctic Metagaz, currently in the Gulf of Aden and heading west, is another vessel being closely watched. The ship is likely to be the first LNG carrier to transit the Suez Canal in eight months.

Another sanctioned Russian vessel, the Komander, an Aframax crude oil tanker, made headlines at Suez earlier this week after suffering an engine failure and briefly running aground on Tuesday.

Geopolitical Context and Risks Ahead

A prospective ceasefire between Israel and Hamas reached earlier this month has led to speculation that more vessels might return to the Red Sea. The Houthis have long justified their attacks on commercial shipping as a show of solidarity with the Palestinians – with more than 100 attacks launched since late 2023.

Vessel operators and insurers will now be watching carefully to see if the militant group scales back its operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as previous conditional pauses have been tied to ceasefires in Gaza. Notably, no Houthi attacks on vessels have been recorded this October, but Israel has resumed strikes in Gaza, adding to the uncertainty.

In a related development, Egypt has said it is developing plans for the resumption of trade through the Suez Canal.

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Source: Phaata.com (According to Splash247)

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