Suez Canal container traffic tops 50% of pre-crisis levels

The Suez Canal just hit a marker the container market had not seen since the Houthi attacks began: weekly container ship capacity transiting the waterway averaged 753,000 TEU in the first two weeks of October, according to Clarksons Research data cited by shipping association BIMCO. That is the first time the number has crossed half of the 1.457 million TEU the canal carried in the equivalent weeks of 2023. This is not a rate bulletin. The recovery of a route releases vessel capacity the industry spent nearly three years absorbing through the long way around Africa, and it is arriving exactly when carriers sit down to negotiate 2027 contract rates.

Key Takeaways Weekly container capacity thro…