Red Sea ‘revival’ taking place as regional carriers lead the way

The Red Sea is seeing “a quiet revival” in shipping services as regional carriers steadily add capacity to vessel strings passing through the Houthi-controlled Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, according to ocean visibility provider eeSea.

Some are Asia-Europe services passing through the Suez Canal, while others are regional services calling at Red Sea ports such as Jeddah, Destine Ozuygur, chief analyst at eeSea, said in a market update.

“The number of unique service versions on this trade has doubled since Q3 2024, when there was an average of eight services on any given month,” Ozuygur said. “This gradual comeback now boasts 16 services and a 54% year-to-date planned capacity increase that is set to peak at 104,000 TEUs of proforma capacity in August.”

Many of the services are operated by carriers from China or those based in the Middle East or India that serve the Asia-Middle East trade lane with small- to medium-sized vessels.

The Red Sea has effectively been out of bounds since December 2023, when Yemen’s Houthi militants began attacking commercial shipping passing through the narrow Bab-el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea as a show of solidarity for Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Major carriers on the Asia-Europe and Asia-US East Coast trade lanes were then forced to reroute ships around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa, which has absorbed an estimated 10% of global capacity and extended transit times by two weeks.

Most of the carriers on the Asia-Middle East trade and those passing through the Red Sea en route to Europe do not make calls to Israel on any of their strings, regardless of trade lane, “so that probably lends them confidence” to sail through Houthi-controlled waters, Ozuygur said.

After no attacks on shipping were reported since this past December, pressure was beginning to build on the major container shipping companies to return to Red Sea transits. However, in July, two bulk carriers were attacked and sunk, killing three crew and leaving 11 missing, effectively ending any chance of a Red Sea return this year.

CMA CGM has some services operating in the Red Sea, but group CFO Ramon Fernandez told the Journal of Commerce last week that security in the region was strictly monitored.

“We have a constant position here, which is that vessels will pass the Bab-al-Mandab Strait when security conditions are met,” he said. “That means security for the crew, security for the vessel and for the cargo.

“We have some vessels going through when these conditions are met, and for the rest of the fleet must go around the Cape of Good Hope,” Fernandez added. “This is a constant policy the group has followed since the early days of last year.”

Of the Asia-Europe services that continue to operate through the strait and the Suez Canal, 39% call ports outside the East Mediterranean and 33% make direct calls to Russian ports, according to eeSea.

“A score of new or improved services announced as recently as Q2 2025 are not restricted to regional carriers alone,” Ozuygur noted.

She outlined some of the services that are currently sailing through the Houthi-controlled waterway.

A China United Lines extra loader is scheduled to begin operations in the last week of August that will complement the carrier’s Red Sea Service (REX) that began in December 2023.

Cosco increased the frequency of the RES2 service operated alongside PIL since March 2024 from a 12-day to a weekly service with the addition of three more sailings at the end of April. Cosco also introduced an additional RES1 service in early May, partnering with OOCL and currently operating with three general cargo vessels.

Hong Kong-based Kawa Shipping operates the China-Europe Express (CEX) service between Ningbo and Wilhelmshaven in Germany through the Red Sea that was launched in 2023. In June, its Eastern Mediterranean Express (EMX) service covering the Red Sea, Egypt and Turkey was expanded with the addition of four more vessels.

Taiwanese carrier Wan Hai Lines will double the number of vessels on its AR2 service to eight later this month, while increasing the sailing frequency from every 14 days to seven days.

India-based Sea Legend Shipping introduced their Asia-Red Sea service in mid-June with three of nine available vessels currently providing voyages.

Dubai’s CStar Lines began their China-Red Sea services FRS1, FRS1-X, and FRS2 in May and June, and Singapore headquartered SeaLead Shipping recently reinstated its China-Red Sea (CRS) service, which has not been operational since December 2022.

Carriers in the Ocean Alliance — CMA CGM, Cosco, OOCL and Evergreen — operate the MED5 service via the Suez Canal to connect Asia to its Mediterranean network.

“While the Asia-Europe trade has largely suffered from longer transit times and increased CO2 emissions tied to military conflict in the zone, the secondary Asia-Middle East trade serving the Red Sea is finally witnessing a quiet revival,” Ozuygur said.

Originally published in the Journal of Commerce, Aug. 4, 2025

This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.