Drewry launches Red Sea Diversion Tracker Service

The headlines continue to be dominated by the return or not of major shipping companies to the Red Sea and Suez Canal routing.

Media reported at the start of last week that the Gemini Cooperation of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd was expected to return to the Red Sea with a service connecting Indian sub-continent and Middle East ports with the Med, the first by a major alliance.

CMA CGM then announced a move in the opposite direction saying that three services it was starting to put through the Red Sea would be diverted back to the Cape of Good Hope citing an “uncertain international context”.

With our large portfolio of international container shipping services for both LCL and FCL cargoes, this all makes interesting reading for the U-Freight Group’s oceanfreight teams and the customers they serves.

All the uncertainty has led Drewry to launch its Red Sea Diversion Tracker service to monitor and publish trends in this trade route,

“The return to the Suez Canal route is one of this year’s key influencing factors for capacity, freight rates, transit times and fuel consumption, and we believe our new Red Sea Diversion Tracker will help inform thousands of stakeholders in shipping,” said Philip Damas, managing director of Drewry.

Drewry expects larger carriers to remain cautious, increasing transits via Suez gradually; watching the insurance market, the early movers with whom they compete and the effect of ending diversions on freight rates. In Drewry’s view, a gradual return may minimise the bunching of ships arriving in Europe and avoid severe congestion. 

Drewry will publish the Red Sea Diversion Tracker every other Tuesday. The tracker is accessible, free of charge, for registered/logged-in users of the Drewry website.

U-Freight continues to monitor developments in global container shipping lanes closely. We remain committed to supporting customers with reliable, flexible transport solutions across air, sea and multimodal services, helping navigate route changes and maintain resilience in international supply chains.

For expert advice or further information on our ocean freight services, please contact your local U-Freight office or visit the ocean freight section of this website.