It is nothing new that from the end of 2024, when Houthi attacks on ships in transit in the Red Sea, the Suez Canal Authority has progressively intensified efforts to convince the shipping companies to return their ships to the route that crosses the Egyptian canal rather than walking the one that avoid passing around the Cape of Good Hope. It is a novelty, however, that the top manager of a primary shipping company has bothered to meet yesterday the president of the Suez Canal Authority in Ismailia for a meeting in which, as expressly announced at the beginning of this month by the Egyptian authority, the return of the ships of this shipping company on the route through the Suez Canal. At the end of yesterday's meeting with the managing director of the shipping group A.P. Møller-Mærsk, Vincent Clerc, the Authority of the Canal announced that as early as next month the ships of the Danish company would have resumed transits through Suez.

At the moment it is not known whether the partnership agreement signed yesterday by the two sides includes commitments to that effect or is limited, as anticipated at the beginning of the month, to the promotion of the cooperation in various sectors, including shipbuilding, logistics and container maintenance and repair. The group Maersk, as reported yesterday by the "Reuters" news agency, However, it has not yet set a precise date for the return to the transits of its ships through Suez. It has The Danish company itself confirmed today in a statement joint venture with the German Hapag-Lloyd, with which it formed the vessel sharing agreement called Gemini Cooperation which is became operational last February.

A.P. Møller-Mærsk and Hapag-Lloyd recalled that have planned, already at the start of their cooperation operational, a network of services based on ship transits around the Cape of Good Hope due to the continuous disruptions to maritime traffic in the Red Sea. "The ambition of Gemini - the two companies specified - is has always been to return to an east-west network based on Suez, As soon as the security situation in the region Will. However, given that the safety of crews, of ships and cargoes remain our top priority, At the moment we do not have a specific timeline to change the Gemini's east-west network for navigation across the Sea Red. Given the progress of the ceasefire in Gaza – continues the note from Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd - we are closely monitoring developments in the region and we are constantly conducting evaluations in-depth security insights. When the security conditions will deem appropriate, and in line with the status of the Gemini as the market leader in the reliability of schedule, Hapag-Lloyd and A.P. Møller-Mærsk will scrupulously coordinate with their respective customers and key stakeholders to ensure an orderly transfer to a Suez-based network, with minimal disruption to supplies chain of our customers".