Maersk Suez Canal Transits Rise 89 Percent to 276 as the Group Looks to a Full Return by March

By The Edge Research Team

Maersk ships made 276 transits of the Suez Canal from January to September, the Suez Canal Authority said on 20 October. A year earlier the count was 146. That is a rise of 89.0 percent, on our calculation. Net tonnage on those transits climbed to 23.3 million tons from 7 million. That is more than 3 times the level of a year earlier, on our calculation. The group’s chief operating officer told the authority’s chairman she looks forward to every Maersk service using the canal again by March next year.

Maersk looks to a full return by March

The authority gave the figures in its account of a video meeting between Admiral Ossama Rabiee, the authority’s chairman and managing director, and Rabab Boulos, chief operating officer and a member of the executive board of A.P. Moller-Maersk. Boulos said the relationship had already brought a large number of the group’s services back to the canal. She called the waterway the group’s best option.

Two of her colleagues filled in the detail. Ahmed Hassan, the group’s vice president of operations, said Maersk keeps updating its sailing schedules in a way that allows more services to return. Hani El-Nady, who represents the group in the Middle East and North Africa, said the group is working to speed up the return of all its services.

Rabiee put the case in cost terms. Higher fuel prices and freight rates, he said, have shown the savings the canal offers very large container ships against the long route around the Cape of Good Hope. Both sides agreed to meet again.

Maersk at the Suez Canal, January to September

Figures from the authority’s release of 20 October 2026. Net tons per transit is our calculation from the 23.3 million tons the release prints; no 2025 figure is shown because the release gives that year’s tonnage as a round 7 million.

The 130 extra crossings added more than 15 million net tons, on our calculation. Maersk averaged 30.7 transits a month this year, against 16.2 in the same months of 2025, on our calculation. In September the group’s regional representative had already reported far more transits that month than a year earlier, as The Edge covered on 25 September.

The network is moving back through the canal

Maersk’s own customer advisories of 19 October put more of its network back through the canal, on our reading. The group referred to an earlier structural rerouting of its Asia to Mediterranean services through the canal, and set out further changes to its Gemini network.

Three of the four services call at Egyptian ports, on our count. AE11 takes Port Said in place of Tangier on its westbound leg. AE19 adds Damietta. The ME2 loop, which links India and Sri Lanka with North Europe, will cross the canal in both directions and add a call at Jeddah. AE12 will run through the canal to Port Said East before Koper and Rijeka.

Maersk service changes announced on 19 October

Maersk customer advisories, 19 October 2026. Dates are the first departure or arrival named for each service; schedules remain subject to change.

Every listed change starts before March, on our reading.

Bigger ships carry the container recovery

The authority’s quarterly statistics show the same shift for container ships as a whole, on our reading. In the second quarter of 2026, container ships moved 37.7 percent more net tonnage through the canal than a year earlier, on our calculation. The number of container transits fell 10.8 percent, on our calculation. The average container transit therefore carried 54.4 percent more tonnage, on our calculation.

The third quarter took the trend further, on our reading. From July to September, 166 medium and large container ships, each above 130,000 tons, crossed with 29 million net tons, the authority said on 13 October. In the same months of 2025 there were 16 such ships carrying 2.4 million net tons. The count is more than 10 times the 2025 level, on our calculation.

Maersk’s average of 84,420 net tons per transit from January to September is more than 58 percent above the 53,221 average for all container ships in the first half of the year, on our calculation. The two figures cover different periods and fleets, so the gap does not show by itself that Maersk’s ships grew.

Container tonnage through the Suez Canal climbs in the second quarter

The authority’s navigation statistics by ship type, calendar quarters. Per-transit figures, changes and shares are our calculation.

The canal’s wider half year

Across all ship types the canal handled 6,904 transits in the first half of 2026, on our count. Net tonnage reached 306.8 million tons, on our calculation. That is 14.0 percent more transits and 28.8 percent more tonnage than in the first half of 2025, on our calculation. Those six months alone carried 58.8 percent of the 522.1 million net tons recorded in the whole of 2025, on our calculation.

Why it matters: Container lines decide how much cargo between Asia and Europe crosses Egypt rather than sailing around Africa. Maersk’s tonnage has risen far faster than its transit count, so each returning service adds more tonnage than the count alone suggests, on our reading.

Outlook: The next markers are on Maersk’s own timetable. The first of the four revised services, AE11, leaves Shanghai on 17 November. The last listed change, AE12’s call at Colombo, falls on 12 January 2027. The authority’s third quarter statistics, once posted, will show whether container tonnage kept outpacing the transit count across the whole container fleet. Boulos looks forward to every Maersk service being back on the canal by March.

Sources: Suez Canal Authority, A.P. Moller-Maersk, The Edge.

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