Today the Suez Canal Authority and the A.P. Møller-Mærsk have signed a strategic partnership under which the group's container ships will begin to transit the Suez Canal again at starting from the beginning of December, a month in which - highlighted The Egyptian Authority - also the French shipping company CMA CGM will fully resume operations through Suez. Both companies, like most of the other major global container carriers, following attacks on ships in the Red Sea of the Houthi rebels who began at the end of 2024 have redirected their container ships to the route that the circumnavigation of Africa passing around the Cape of Good Hope.

On the occasion of the signing, Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Authority of the Suez Canal, noted that the recent peace summit held in Sharm El-Sheikh succeeded in strengthening the stability in the Red Sea and Bab Strait region El-Mandeb, paving the way for the next restoration of traffic maritime level in the region at its normal levels, and underlined whereas the return of Maersk Group container ships represents a step in the right direction, in line with the optimal path to the sustainability of global supply chains, as a broken shorter, faster and safer transport connecting East and the West.

Rabie said that last month in the Suez Canal there were 1,136 ships transited, unchanged from October 2024. The net tonnage of ships transited was 47.1 million tons, with an increase of +17% compared to October 2017 last year, and transit fees paid by ships are amounted to $372.9 million (+16%). The President of the Suez Canal Authority also announced that in November 2025 1,156 ships are expected to transit, with a growth of +16% on November 2024, for 48.5 million net tons (+27%) and for transit rights of $383.4 million (+27%).

Rabie announced that in the coming days the authority will hold a series of meetings with all the shipping companies so that adjust their fleets' schedules to bring ships back to transit through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Attending today's signing of the Agreement in Ismailia, Group CEO A.P. Møller-Mærsk, Vincent Clerc, said that the Suez Canal is not only a vital maritime route for the Maersk group, but also a partner strategic for the Port Said East container terminal, which is operated by Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT), a company owned by APM Terminals of the Maersk group (55.0%), by the COSCO (20.0%), the Suez Canal Authority (10.3%), the National Bank of Egypt (5.0%) and the Egyptian private sector (9.7%). Clerc also expressed his thanks and his gratitude to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for his support and his presence in recent days at the inauguration of the extension of the SCCT terminal ( of 18 November 2025).