SMALLER vessels were the driving force behind November's year-on-year uptick in suez Canal's numbers of vessels transiting the waterway, reported London's Lloyd's List.
Vessel-tracking data shows that not a single ship in the 15,000-17,999 TEU range passed through last month, despite hitting a year-to-date high in November.
The monthly total stood at 220, up 12.2 per cent on October, which was the previous 2024 peak, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence data. By contrast, the average monthly passings for the first 11 months of the year were 174.4.
However, this change should not be interpreted as a sign that global carriers have started to return en masse to the Red Sea route - the vast majority of larger vessels continued to skirt the Cape of Good Hope, amid persistent attacks against merchant shipping by Houthi forces.
In the 5,000-9,999 TEU class, transits numbered 22 versus 16 in October.
The considerable increase in traffic was almost entirely driven by smaller tonnage below 5,000 TEU, a segment where transits reached a 19-month high of 193 in November, up over 10 per cent month-on-month and nearly 28 per cent above this year's average.
Carriers such as X-Press Feeders, Emirates Shipping Line and Safeen have increased the number of shortsea services running from India and the Middle East Gulf to the Red Sea, according to Linerlytica co-founder Hua Joo Tan.
Meanwhile, more small ships entering the Red Sea has coincided with a continuing trend of some opportunistic carriers quickly filling the gap left by bigger competitors exiting the route.
For example, among November those transiting were several ships operated by China's CU Lines. The company has significantly increased its Red Sea exposure this year through new services co-operated with partners.
'As the top carriers of this world to a large extent avoid the area, opportunities arise for carriers that assess the risk differently,' said Xeneta chief analyst Peter Sands.
'Still, many of them may not offer this option to all shippers - as anecdotal evidence speaks of preference given to exporters flying the same flag as the 'opportunistic' carriers.'
According to Linerlytica data, the Red Sea rerouting has absorbed about seven per cent of global containership capacity, bolstering freight and charter rates over the past 10 months.
Signs that Iran and some of its key proxies have been severely weakened in recent months, including the coup in Syria and the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire deal, have fuelled concerns the Tehran-backed Houthi militias could prematurely end their harassment of shipping in the Red Sea.
The latest media reports indicate a Hamas-Israel truce is also in the final stages, with Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, recently saying an agreement is 'closer than ever.'
SeaNews Turkey
Vessel-tracking data shows that not a single ship in the 15,000-17,999 TEU range passed through last month, despite hitting a year-to-date high in November.
The monthly total stood at 220, up 12.2 per cent on October, which was the previous 2024 peak, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence data. By contrast, the average monthly passings for the first 11 months of the year were 174.4.
However, this change should not be interpreted as a sign that global carriers have started to return en masse to the Red Sea route - the vast majority of larger vessels continued to skirt the Cape of Good Hope, amid persistent attacks against merchant shipping by Houthi forces.
In the 5,000-9,999 TEU class, transits numbered 22 versus 16 in October.
The considerable increase in traffic was almost entirely driven by smaller tonnage below 5,000 TEU, a segment where transits reached a 19-month high of 193 in November, up over 10 per cent month-on-month and nearly 28 per cent above this year's average.
Carriers such as X-Press Feeders, Emirates Shipping Line and Safeen have increased the number of shortsea services running from India and the Middle East Gulf to the Red Sea, according to Linerlytica co-founder Hua Joo Tan.
Meanwhile, more small ships entering the Red Sea has coincided with a continuing trend of some opportunistic carriers quickly filling the gap left by bigger competitors exiting the route.
For example, among November those transiting were several ships operated by China's CU Lines. The company has significantly increased its Red Sea exposure this year through new services co-operated with partners.
'As the top carriers of this world to a large extent avoid the area, opportunities arise for carriers that assess the risk differently,' said Xeneta chief analyst Peter Sands.
'Still, many of them may not offer this option to all shippers - as anecdotal evidence speaks of preference given to exporters flying the same flag as the 'opportunistic' carriers.'
According to Linerlytica data, the Red Sea rerouting has absorbed about seven per cent of global containership capacity, bolstering freight and charter rates over the past 10 months.
Signs that Iran and some of its key proxies have been severely weakened in recent months, including the coup in Syria and the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire deal, have fuelled concerns the Tehran-backed Houthi militias could prematurely end their harassment of shipping in the Red Sea.
The latest media reports indicate a Hamas-Israel truce is also in the final stages, with Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, recently saying an agreement is 'closer than ever.'
SeaNews Turkey
