While ocean carriers are holding off on Middle East waterways, especially the Strait of Hormuz, CMA CGM has once again demonstrated its appetite for risk.
The French line was one of the first primary carriers to sail through the Suez Canal after the end of last year’s peace negotiations, and led the vanguard of maritime traffic trickling through the EU-Asia link.
During the Houthi attacks on maritime voyages through the Red Sea, the Marseilles-run line also proved to be one of the most resilient carriers, fully prepared to sail through the Suez, albeit often under naval guard.
On Friday, March 13, Lars Jensen of Vespucci Maritime said: “CMA CGM appears to be gradually returning to a Red Sea routing.”
He said the carrier’s scheduling on its website showed that the 15 000-TEU CMA CGM Eugenie was heading south through the canal, calling at Saudi Arabia’s Port of Jeddah along the way.
Heading in the opposite direction across the Indian Ocean was the 15 526-TEU CMA CGM Adonis, on the same BEX2 Asia-Med service, passing through the Suez.
It has also come to light that Saudi’s Red Sea ports are actively absorbing diverted cargo originally destined for Persian Gulf ports in the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait, with multimodal trucking and rail across the Arabian Peninsula ramping up, sea intelligence platform Kpler reports.
Saudi Gazette states that carriers like CMA CGM and Cosco are rerouting 88% of affected vessels to Saudi gateways connecting with the UAE.
A Logistics Corridors Initiative, launched since the current Middle East conflict began on February 28, is bolstering this with rail from Jeddah to Gulf hubs, handling 20% of redirected volumes, while cargo through the Strait of Hormuz is down by at least 90%.
According to Jensen, the rumours that have been circulating about Iran allowing India-flagged vessels to pass through the strait remain unconfirmed.
“The Indian External Affairs Ministry said that there had only been talks about this, and there are no assurances of this presently.”
