By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) – Today, shippers between Europe and Asia learned that a second Ocean Alliance service will resume its trips through the Suez Canal on its return journey to Asia.

Freight forwarders and shippers received an advisory from OOCL, a member of the Ocean Alliance, about the LL4 service. This service, also known as NEU4 by the Ocean Alliance and FAL1 by the shipping company CMA CGM, will be making its way back to Asia through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.

In their message, OOCL stated, “Please be informed that the service operator has notified us that starting from the APL Merlion 181 E, all future LL4 eastbound voyages returning to Asia will go via the Suez Canal and Red Sea.”

The APL Merlion, which has a capacity of 13,900 TEU, is currently heading north along the West African coast towards Europe. According to shipping databases, it is expected to arrive at the canal on January 5.

The FAL1 service is currently run by 15 CMA CGM ships, which hold between 13,900 and 17,850 TEU. The return through Suez will shorten the round trip from 105 days to 98 days, allowing the number of ships in operation to be reduced to 14.

Despite the reduction in vessels, there will be no decrease in the service’s overall capacity. In fact, it is expected to slightly increase as bigger ships are deployed.

Data from eeSea indicates that the average vessel capacity for FAL1 is currently 15,589 TEU, but starting in January, the fleet of 14 ships will include vessels ranging from 13,900 TEU to 21,000 TEU, raising the average capacity to 16,051 TEU.

Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta, told The Loadstar that this is a similar situation to the Ocean Alliance’s Asia-Mediterranean MED2 service, which CMA CGM markets as the MEX service. The MEX service is also set to return to the Suez Canal on its return trips, starting with the 15,254 TEU CMA CGM Kimberley, scheduled to pass through the canal on February 10.

“The change to the MEX service routing via Suez reduces the number of slots from 15 to 14, effectively saving one vessel,” he explained.

“The same change will happen with the LL4 service, meaning that capacity is starting to be freed up by avoiding longer routes around the Cape of Good Hope.