CMA CGM have moved to the front rank of major carriers in reverting to the traditional – and considerably shorter – Suez Canal route that most vessels deserted at the end of 2023 due to the Red Sea crisis.
The Marseille-based carrier’s Indamex service between West India and North America – arguably the most sought-after network by exporters on the trade lane – is set to resume operating on its full port rotation via the Suez, which will include calls to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Damietta, Egypt, in both directions, as well as Tanger Med, Morocco, on the westbound leg.
The Indamex service schedules, CMA CGM will reroute its Indian Subcontinent-US east coast Indamex service via Suez from mid-November. The liner analyst said it expected the revised Suez routing to begin with the 9,700 TEU CMA CGM Pellas, scheduled to depart Pakistan’s Port Qasim on 13 November. However, the latest AIS reading of the vessel confirms that it is still en route to Port Qasim and seems likely only to arrive on the day it is due to leave.
Whatever, diversion of the service via the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal will reduce the round-trip voyage time of the service by seven days – from 12 to 11 weeks – and also reduce the requirement of one vessel less on the loop, again from 12 to 11.
According to Alphaliner, for instance, both the Indamex and BEX2 services only run with CMA CGM tonnage. However the eeSea liner database reports that Cosco, OOCL and Evergreen are minor vessel providers on these services.
While the Indamex service does not call the Lebanon port directly it is likely to emerge as a transhipment point for Lebanese cargo via Damietta in Egypt.
