The mega container ship OOCL Portugal, with a capacity of 24,188 TEU, transited the Suez Canal southbound on September 16 while sailing from Belgium to China, in what the Suez Canal Authority described as COSCO Shipping Lines’ first southbound passage through the canal since the Red Sea security crisis began. The vessel operates on the Ocean Alliance’s NEU2 service, which links the Far East with Northwest Europe. Chinese carrier COSCO Shipping and its subsidiary Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) have joined Ocean Alliance partner CMA CGM in resuming Red Sea transits on jointly operated Europe-Asia services, with five COSCO and OOCL vessels beginning eastbound Suez transits the same week.
The return of major carriers to the canal comes as traffic data shows a broader recovery: container ship net tonnage transiting Suez reached approximately 72.1 million tonnes between January and August 2026, a 54.2% increase from 46.7 million tonnes over the same period in 2025. The resumption comes even as security risks persist elsewhere in the region, with the Houthi movement having taken control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and pushed into islands along the Bab el-Mandeb strait in recent weeks, underscoring that carriers are weighing the canal’s cost and time savings against a security picture that remains far from fully resolved.
Source: Container News — https://container-news.com/cosco-returns-to-suez-canal-as-oocl-portugal-makes-southbound-transit/
Tags: Suez Canal, COSCO, OOCL
