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Denmark’s Ambassador to Egypt said Maersk is evaluating an eventual return to the Suez Canal.
Lars Bo Moller told a meeting with Canal officials in Egypt that the world’s second-largest container line is closely following events in the Red Sea.
Suez Canal Authority Chairperson Osama Rabie in the meeting urged Maersk to gradually return to the waterway as Israel and Hamas met to negotiate a peace accord to end the war in Gaza, according to published reports.
Major container and tanker operators fled the region in early 2024 after Houthi terrorists attacked merchant vessels following the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
The absence of global shipping has cost Egypt tens of billions of dollars in lost canal tolls from vessels sailing between the Arab states, Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, and North America.
Container lines have diverted ships on longer voyages around the Horn of Africa, adding as much as two weeks to a typical voyage.
Military operations by the United States and European Union inside Yemen have failed to eliminate threats by the Houthis, who mounted recent attacks that killed one seaman and injured another.
Maersk (OTC: AMKBY) shares dropped 4% since Tuesday on news of a Gaza ceasefire as investors bet a re-opened Red Sea route would ease shipping capacity constraints and push rates down.
Maersk is currently expanding the Suez Canal Container Terminal at East Port Said at the northern terminus of the Suez Canal, Rabie noted. The company operates extensively at the Egyptian ports of Alexandria, Damietta and Port Said.
Moller, who is not related to the Moller-Maersk family that controls Maersk, praised the partnership with SCA in the terminal project, which he said would lift the port as a regional trade and development hub.