Container traffic through the Suez Canal has climbed past half of its pre-disruption level for the first time since the Houthi attacks began.
Weekly container transits through the canal reached roughly 753,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first two weeks of October, compared with 1.457 million TEUs in the same period of 2023, according to Clarksons Research data. At the trough, from February 2024 through mid-2026, weekly transits averaged just 141,000 TEU, or 11 percent of 2023 levels.
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According to Clarksons, 36 percent of container capacity routed via the canal or the Cape of Good Hope traversed the Suez in early October, up from 8 percent between 2024 and mid-2026. The figure remains well below the pre-attack 80 percent of transits.
Data from container shipping market analysis firm Linerlytica supports the assertion of a traffic increase. From the period of Aug. 31 to Sept. 27, roughly 29.5 container ships over 4,000 TEUs passed through the Suez and Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That number increased to 45 vessels in the week of Oct. 5-11, with roughly 47 projected this week. Linerlytica says these transits will soon breach 50 transits per week.
Linerlytica estimates more than 140 container ships, over 2 million TEUs of capacity, have switched away from Cape routing since May.
The company expects a full-scale Suez return within the first quarter of 2027, while Drewry is projecting a phased return reaching 80 percent of pre-diversion levels by February.
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