Asian Port Congestion Pushes CMA CGM and Maersk Back to the Red Sea

Typhoon Dolphin hit China's eastern coast on August 9, 2026. Port terminal operations at Ningbo and Shanghai halted on August 7 and 8 before it arrived. The storm was the third to strike the country in five weeks and the strongest of them.

More than 2.4 million TEU of container ship capacity stalled across North Asia and southern China in the days that followed. Ships sat idle. Equipment ran short at ports still working through the backlog from the previous two storms.

CMA CGM and Maersk announced three additional service loops would transit the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea. Both had been using the Cape of Good Hope route to avoid Houthi attacks on commercial ships, but with that much cargo capacity stranded in Asia and no quick path to clearing the ports, they could not hold the detour any longer. Cosco also returned to Red Sea sailings that week, despite the continuing threat.

More than 50 container ships crossed the Bab el-Mandeb in the week those announcements came out.

The Cape route adds weeks to a round trip compared to a Red Sea transit. With 2.4 million TEU already stuck in Asia, that extra time was impossible to absorb.