Evergreen completes first Suez Canal transit in three years as all major alliances return
The 16,556-TEU Ever Eon transited the canal on Sunday, leaving Zim as the only major carrier still routing around Africa, as Xeneta projects spot rates falling 30 percent in 2027.
Evergreen's 16,556-TEU containership Ever Eon transited the Suez Canal on Sunday on its Netherlands-to-Singapore voyage in the Ocean Alliance NEU7 service, the carrier's first transit since the Red Sea crisis began roughly three years ago. The Suez Canal Authority said Evergreen will add more Suez routings, meaning CMA CGM, Maersk, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, COSCO and Evergreen have now all returned; Zim remains the only major carrier still routing around the Cape of Good Hope, with Premier Alliance's first transit set for 13 November. Gemini, the Maersk–Hapag-Lloyd network, has formally moved its Middle East–India and Asia–Europe services back through the canal.
Market analyst Xeneta, in an outlook published the same day, projects global ocean spot rates falling about 30 percent in 2027 against the Q3 2026 average and long-term contract rates dropping about 5 percent, as capacity grows 6.8 percent (2.9 million TEU of new deliveries) against demand growth of 2.5–4 percent, compounded by the Suez recovery releasing an estimated 599,000 TEU of nominal capacity. The projection is a forecast, and the Red Sea is not fully secure — a tanker burned near Hormuz last week — so routings could revert. For exporters and forwarders, the shift points to shorter lead times and denser schedules on Europe routings, with 2027 contracts negotiable from a stronger position.