This milestone was achieved on 16 September aboard the OOCL Portugal, which transited as part of the northbound convoy en route from Zeebrugge, Belgium, to Shanghai, China.  

The OOCL Portugal is deployed on the Ocean Alliance’s NEU2 service—a core Europe–Asia loop linking key ports across Northwest Europe and the Far East. With a nominal capacity of 24,188 TEUs and dimensions of approximately 400 metres in length and 61.3 metres in beam, it ranks among the largest container vessels currently in active commercial service.  

The SCA emphasized that this transit marks COSCO Shipping Lines’ inaugural southbound passage through the Canal since regional instability prompted widespread rerouting—underscoring a meaningful step toward the restoration of conventional Asia–Europe maritime connectivity.  

Container shipping traffic shows sustained recovery  

Preliminary SCA data indicate a robust rebound in container vessel throughput: net tonnage carried by container ships through the Canal totaled approximately 72.1 million tonnes between January and August 2026—representing a 54.2% year-on-year increase compared to 46.7 million tonnes in the same period of 2025.  

All major carrier alliances—including CMA CGM, Maersk, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, and COSCO Shipping Lines—have resumed regular deployments on Europe–Asia routes via the Suez Canal. On 16 September alone, 39 container vessels transited the Canal, collectively accounting for approximately 2.3 million tonnes of net tonnage.  

This latest transit further corroborates emerging evidence of a measured yet steady normalization of container shipping activity along the Suez Corridor—following months of diversionary routing around the Cape of Good Hope due to operational constraints in the southern Red Sea region.  

Resource.: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Ep0xK7y9-LADZV-XoJ6j7Q