Following the Suez Canal Authority’s recent 15% toll discount for containerships, CMA CGM appears to be gradually shifting more vessels back to the Red Sea route — especially for Asia-Europe eastbound return services.
According to liner database eeSea, the 16,000 TEU CMA CGM Jules Verne is scheduled to transit southbound through the Suez Canal on June 21. The vessel, part of the OCEAN Alliance MED2 service, previously routed around the Cape of Good Hope. eeSea analysis projects that by using the Suez Canal, the vessel will cut its delay from 15 to 6 days by the time it reaches Port Klang.
The ship will call at Valencia (June 4), Barcelona, Marseille, and Malta’s Marsaxlokk transshipment hub (June 17), before a scheduled inducement call at Jeddah (June 24).
Notably, Jules Verne has passed through the Red Sea at least five times since early 2024, occasionally with French naval escort, and operates with AIS transmission turned off in high-risk zones — a clear indication of CMA CGM’s continued but cautious use of the corridor.
eeSea also confirms that CMA CGM’s MED5 (BEX2) service, fully operated by the carrier, consistently uses the Red Sea route for eastbound journeys, with all vessels suspending AIS broadcasts during transits through danger zones.
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