Freightwaves: As shipping contract talks begin, Suez Canal traffic “flowing normally,” absent major lines

Even as major shipping lines withdraw some services and the Iran war widens across the Middle East, the Suez Canal Authority said vessel traffic was humming along through the Middle East trade route.

“Traffic through the Canal is flowing normally in both directions,” said Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), in a statement Tuesday.

Rabie’s comments come as shippers and carriers enter negotiations on long-term contracts for the year.

The waterway tallied 56 vessels Monday, or 2.6 million gross tons.

Vessel traffic was not affected by the outbreak of the Iran war and was flowing normally in both directions, Rabie said. Navigational services are operating around the clock.

The largest container ships and product tankers diverted away from the Suez-Red Sea and around the tip of Africa since late 2023, when Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked shipping in support of Gaza. The Houthis threatened to resume their attacks after the outbreak of the war in Iran, a Houthi sponsor.  

Monday’s traffic saw 24 vessels in the northern convoy and 32 vessels in the southern convoy. In the past three days, 100 vessels transited the waterway connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with net tonnage of 3.8 million tons.

Prior to 2024, Suez Canal traffic steadily grew, peaking in 2023 with a record 26,434 vessel transits, up 10.8% from the prior year. Net tonnage also hit an all-time high of about 1.568 billion tons that year, reflecting an 11.2% increase.

In 2025, Suez Canal traffic remained severely disrupted compared to pre-2024 peaks, with 12,758 vessels transiting – a 3.4% decrease from 13,213 in 2024. Net tonnage was 522 million tons, down 0.5% from 524.5 million tons the prior year, reflecting ongoing Red Sea crisis impacts.

Rabie said that the recent announcements by CMA CGM and Maersk (MAERSK-B.CO) suspending their transits through the Suez Canal “remains a temporary measure contingent upon developments in the security situation in the region.”

He was optimistic that there would be a breakthrough in the security situation, “given its fundamental impact on freedom of navigation in the region.”

Analysts say that the hostilities spreading through the region could keep major carriers away from the Suez through 2026.

The tentative return to the route earlier this year by Maersk and CMA CGM was a mixed indicator for weakening global rates. An estimated 2.5 million containers’ capacity had been absorbed by the diversions, but the return of so much tonnage could threaten to further depress weakening ocean rates.