Jeddah: 10‑12 day landside delays as Evergreen adds Red Sea calls

Market Context & Direct Impact

Evergreen's Red Sea return adds direct calls at Jeddah, Sokhna and Aqaba. Alphaliner counts eight ad hoc Suez and Bab el-Mandeb transits for Evergreen's Far East–Europe services, plus four sailings aimed at the Red Sea market. Evergreen's ad hoc OGRD service will restore direct Far East–Red Sea links with 7,024–9,466 teu ships, and the first ship leaves Qingdao on 14 November. Emirates Shipping Line adds a fortnightly China–Red Sea service to the same three ports, starting from Shanghai on 13 November. The Suez Canal Authority recorded the first transit of Evergreen's 16,556-teu EVER EON on 8 November.

Jeddah carries the heaviest load, and its landside delays are already documented. DP World's South Container Terminal at Jeddah handled more than 221,200 teu in July, its highest monthly throughput since operations began in 1999. Expeditors' September update reported landside delays of 10-12 days after discharge, and The Loadstar warns that extra services could test terminal capacity while thinner ports lose traffic. Flexport's European view points the same way: it forecasts arriving capacity at 131% of normal in Week 47 and treats anything above 120% as a congestion risk. Sogese expects Suez normalisation to run into 2027, but warns that security risks could delay schedule recovery.

Core Executive Takeaways

• Gateway concentration riskThe new direct services suggest a yard backlog at one Red Sea port could reach many shippers at once, because cargo is funnelled into fewer gateways.
• Release is the bottleneckJeddah's 10-12 day landside delay points to inland pick-up as the constraint to plan around, not the ocean schedule.
• Europe feels the shiftFlexport's 131% arrival forecast for Week 47 suggests the Suez switch is moving congestion pressure to European gates as well.

Strategic Playbook

1. 1
   Audit Red Sea bookings

   Pull every booking that discharges at Jeddah, Sokhna or Aqaba, and confirm carrier, service and free-time terms before the first Evergreen and Emirates Shipping sailings arrive.

2. 2
   Lock inland capacity early

   Reserve trucking and yard slots for Jeddah consignees now, and set a trigger to reroute cargo if release waits lengthen beyond your free time.

Filed 09:26 GMT, 12 November 2026, for the first edition of 12 Nov.
As agents only.

Sources

1. Return to Suez transits raises congestion fears at Red Sea portsThe Loadstar, published 11 November 2026
2. Admiral Ossama Rabiee: EVER GREEN Shipping Line returns to transit through the Suez CanalSuez Canal Authority, published 8 November 2026
3. Suez return could limit November freight rate increases, Sogese warnsContainer News, published 10 November 2026

Claims ledger: 10 facts and where each comes from

• Alphaliner counts eight ad hoc Suez and Bab el-Mandeb transits for Evergreen's Far East–Europe services, plus four sailings aimed at the Red Sea market.¹
• Evergreen's ad hoc OGRD service will restore direct Far East–Red Sea links with 7,024–9,466 teu ships, rotating through Jeddah, Sokhna and Aqaba; the first ship leaves Qingdao on 14 November.¹
• Emirates Shipping Line launches a fortnightly Central/South China–Red Sea service to Sokhna, Aqaba and Jeddah, with its inaugural sailing from Shanghai on 13 November.¹
• The Suez Canal Authority recorded the first transit of Evergreen's 16,556-teu EVER EON on 8 November.²
• DP World's South Container Terminal at Jeddah handled more than 221,200 teu in July, its highest monthly throughput since operations began in 1999.¹
• Expeditors reported congestion at Jeddah in its September update, with landside delays of 10-12 days after discharge.¹
• The Loadstar warns that additional services could test terminal capacity, while ports receiving fewer calls risk losing traffic.¹
• Flexport forecasts arriving vessel capacity at 131% of normal in Week 47, and it treats arrivals above 120% of normal as a congestion risk.¹
• Sogese expects Suez Canal normalisation to continue into 2027, but says security risks could delay a broader recovery in schedule reliability.³
• The new direct services could concentrate cargo at selected gateways rather than spread it evenly across the region.¹

Every figure above is tied to a cited source that was checked on the day of filing. Found an error? Tell the desk.