Andre Klynsmith

Shipping and Logistics

Four More Services Leave the Cape: Gemini Accelerates Its Return to Suez

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are moving four more Gemini Cooperation services off the Cape of Good Hope and back through the Suez Canal, the clearest signal yet that the long detour around Southern Africa is being unwound one service at a time.

Shipping and Logistics

15 September 2026 • 3 min read

The AE5, AE11, AE12 and ME2 services will shift to the trans-Suez route, joining AE15 and AE19 already running through the canal. For Southern African ports that have absorbed diverted traffic for nearly three years, the direction of travel has reversed — and it has reversed at the very moment the Red Sea looks more dangerous, not less.

Four services, one direction of travel

The two carriers confirmed on Sunday that AE5, which connects Asia with Northern Europe, AE11 and AE12, which link Asia with the Mediterranean, and ME2, which connects India and Europe, will all transit the Suez Canal in both directions. They join the AE15 and AE19 services already restored to the canal, and Maersk's independently operated MECL service linking India, the Middle East and the US East Coast.

The first westbound sailings begin later this month. Antonia Maersk departs Tanjung Pelepas on AE11 on 19 September, followed by Marchen Maersk on AE5 on 21 September and Cornelia Maersk on ME2 on 24 September. The timing of the first AE12 sailing has not yet been announced. Maersk said the return to Suez will cut transit times compared with sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, describing the canal as the most efficient way to move cargo between Asia and Europe.

A reopening the carriers themselves call conditional

What makes the move unusual is its timing. Iran-aligned Houthi forces have expanded their position along Yemen's Red Sea coast and around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, adding pressure to the southern entrance of the Red Sea. On the other side of the Arabian Peninsula, Iran continues to restrict shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthi advance has also raised fresh concerns over Saudi oil exports that had increasingly relied on Red Sea routes precisely because Hormuz was disrupted.

Both carriers have been explicit that the change is reversible. They said they will keep monitoring security conditions and that any further changes to the Gemini network depend on continued stability in the Red Sea and the absence of further escalation. In other words, this is a rolling operational judgement, not a settled return to pre-2023 routing.

What thinner Cape traffic means for Southern Africa

Since late 2023, Houthi attacks pushed most major container carriers around the Cape of Good Hope, adding thousands of miles to Asia–Europe voyages. Southern African ports picked up the incidental business that comes with a longer voyage: bunkering, stores, crew changes, repairs and a share of relay and transhipment work at Cape Town, Ngqura, Durban and Walvis Bay. That demand was never contracted and it was never guaranteed. It is the first thing to thin out as services move back to Suez.

The services being switched are Asia–Europe and India–Europe strings, not the Asia–Southern Africa or Europe–Southern Africa services that carry most SADC boxes. Direct port calls into the region are therefore not the immediate issue. The immediate issue is the passing trade, the bunker volumes, and the transit times quoted on your Q4 bookings — all of which are now moving in a different direction from the one operators have planned around since 2023.

About the Author
	Andre Klynsmith Entrepreneur & Technology Enthusiast Andre's expertise spans technology, blockchain, transport, and logistics — with a passion for innovation and driving positive change across industries. info@laaimylorrie.com | laaimylorrie.com