Suez Canal Hits Half Its Pre-Crisis Container Volume

Weekly container ship capacity through the Suez Canal topped half its pre-disruption benchmark in early October, the first time that has happened since Houthi attacks scattered liner services to the Cape route nearly two years ago.

BIMCO and Clarksons Research put average weekly throughput at 753,000 TEU in the first two weeks of October, against 1.46 million TEU in the same period in 2023. That is 51.5% of the pre-crisis average.

The shift in traffic share is just as striking. By early October, 36% of container ship capacity on Suez-or-Cape routes was choosing the canal. Between 2024 and mid-2026, that share averaged 8%. Before the Red Sea attacks began, it ran at roughly 80%.

Large-ship numbers from the Suez Canal Authority confirm the trend. In Q3 2026, 166 medium and ultra-large container ships transited, compared with 16 in Q3 2025. Total large-container tonnage was 29 million net tons, up from 2.4 million a year earlier. CMA CGM led the return to the canal. Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC, and OOCL followed.

The economics are pulling them back. Drewry estimates the direct financial gain at around $43 per slot per transit, or roughly $1 million per round trip before war-risk insurance. SCA Chairman Admiral Ossama Rabiee has pointed to rising fuel prices and freight rates as additional pressure on lines still diverting around the cape.

The route's recovery also carries a market-wide effect. BIMCO estimates two years of Cape diversions added about 10% to global container ship demand. That buffer is now shrinking as traffic returns through Suez, and Asian port congestion may slow how fast new capacity absorbs the shift.

Not everything points toward a full restoration. Fighting between Ethiopia and Eritrea in October raised fresh concerns about the Red Sea corridor's stability, and Drewry has warned that Houthi activity may have increased the danger. Lines returning through the canal say they will adjust if conditions change.