Largest Maersk container ship in two years sails through Suez Canal

Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said on Tuesday that the container ship ASTRID MAERSK completed its first transit of the canal, marking a milestone in efforts to restore major shipping services.

The vessel, operated by Maersk, handled containers at East Port Said’s terminal before bunkering environmentally friendly methanol fuel and sailing northbound through the canal on its way to Oman. At 350 metres long, 54 metres wide and 185,000 gross tons, ASTRID MAERSK is the largest Maersk container ship to transit the canal in two years.

The transit is the third by a Maersk vessel since a strategic partnership was signed with the SCA, following MAERSK SEBAROK in December and MAERSK DENVER in January. It is also the first voyage under the ME-11 shipping service on the India-Middle East-Mediterranean trade route, operated by the Gemini alliance between Maersk Line and Hapag-Lloyd. The alliance recently rerouted the service through the Suez Canal in both directions instead of around the Cape of Good Hope, effective mid-February.

SCA Chairman Osama Rabie said incentives and flexible marketing policies implemented in 2025 attracted 784 vessels with a total net tonnage of 36.6 million tons, generating revenues of $170.4 million. The ASTRID MAERSK benefited from Navigation Circular No. 3/2025, offering a 15 per cent discount for container ships exceeding 130,000 net tons, whether laden or empty. Since May, the circular has helped restore 64 vessels with 9.9 million tons in total.

On Tuesday, a total of 36 vessels transited the canal with a combined gross tonnage of 2 million tons.

Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English

Subediting: Y.Yasser