Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd confirmed on November 2, 2026, that their joint India-Europe container service—marketed as ME1 by Maersk and Indian Ocean Service (IOS) by Hapag-Lloyd under the Gemini Cooperation—will return to the Red Sea and Suez Canal routing. The first westbound sailing under the restored route departs Salalah, Oman, on November 4, 2026, aboard the vessel Atlanta Express (voyage 644W).
The decision marks a significant milestone in the gradual normalization of Asia-Europe trade corridors after nearly three years of disruption. Most major carriers abandoned the Suez route in late 2023 following attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Yemen's Houthi forces, forcing vessels onto the longer Cape of Good Hope routing that added roughly two weeks and 6,000 nautical miles to each voyage between India and Europe.
The revised ME1/IOS rotation will maintain its Indian gateway calls at Mundra and Nhava Sheva, connecting through Salalah before transiting the Suez Canal to Tangier, Rotterdam, Wilhelmshaven, Hamburg, and London. The return leg includes Algeciras and Tangier before heading back through Suez to Salalah and Mundra. The first eastbound sailing on the restored route will be the Savannah Express (voyage 644E) from Tangier, with Maersk listing November 13 and Hapag-Lloyd indicating November 12, noting that departure dates remain subject to operational conditions.
For Indian exporters and importers, the return to Suez routing offers meaningful operational benefits. Shorter transit times between Indian west coast ports and Northern European destinations will enable faster inventory replenishment, reduce working capital tied up in inventory carrying costs, and preserve shelf life for time-sensitive cargo. Some semi-urgent shipments that might otherwise have required air freight could now be served by ocean freight on the shorter routing.
Both carriers have emphasized that the decision remains conditional on security conditions in the Red Sea. Maersk stated that any alterations to services within the Gemini Cooperation will remain dependent on ongoing stability in the Red Sea area, while Hapag-Lloyd stressed that crew, vessel, and cargo safety remain the highest priority. The announcement represents a phased restoration rather than a full-scale return, following earlier resumptions of selected Gemini services through Suez in September 2026.
The timing of this route restoration carries strategic significance for India-Europe trade. With the Hormuz crisis simultaneously driving shipping costs above 30 percent of barrel value and creating uncertainty in energy logistics, the Suez normalization provides a counterbalancing development for containerized trade. Indian merchandise exporters to Europe—particularly in textiles, engineering goods, and pharmaceuticals—stand to gain from reduced transit times and potentially more competitive freight rates as shorter round trips release effective vessel capacity.
However, the return to Suez introduces operational complexities. Ships switching to the shorter route may arrive ahead of vessels still sailing via the Cape, potentially creating bunching at European and Indian ports and placing pressure on berths, yards, and onward transport connections. Carriers may need to revise berth windows, transshipment connections, and empty container repositioning plans as more services transition back to Suez routing. The extent of any wider network reshuffling remains uncertain, with neither carrier having announced deployment decisions for vessels that may become surplus to individual rotations.
Security considerations continue to anchor the carriers' approach. The return follows a decline in attacks that had prompted the original diversions, but both Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have made clear that the Suez routing remains subject to continuous monitoring and could be reversed if conditions deteriorate. For shippers, the immediate benefit is the prospect of shorter transit times and improved reliability on the India-Europe corridor, though the durability of this improvement depends on factors beyond commercial control.