Mediterranean Trade Shifts in November: CMA CGM Posts $7,100 FAK While Gemini Adds a Direct Service
Two days in late October brought two pieces of news pointing in opposite directions for the Mediterranean trade. CMA CGM announced higher FAK rates for shipments from Asia to the Mediterranean and North Africa, effective for vessels loading from November 1 to 14, 2026: US$4,900 per 40ft container to the West Mediterranean, US$5,000 to the Adriatic, US$5,200 to the East Mediterranean and Black Sea, and US$7,100 to North Africa. Rates for 20ft containers run from US$3,900 to US$5,300. At the same time, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk unveiled a new service under the Gemini Cooperation, SE5 on Hapag-Lloyd's side and AE18 on Maersk's, linking Central and South China directly with the Western Mediterranean. Its first vessel, Maersk Edirne, is scheduled to call at Shanghai on November 22. Carriers are pushing rates up while adding capacity at the same time, and shippers to the Mediterranean and North Africa should read the combination carefully.
Start with what the increase actually covers. The new FAK applies to dry, reefer, out-of-gauge and paying empty containers, and the quoted figures bundle basic ocean freight, bunker-related surcharges, EU ETS charges and low-sulphur surcharges. Terminal handling, security and other local charges remain extra, so US$7,100 is a floor, not a landed cost, for a 40ft box to North Africa. The broader context explains the confidence: at the North Bund International Shipping Forum on October 20, the Shanghai Shipping Exchange research institute put the average rate on Mediterranean routes at US$3,185 per TEU, up more than 80 percent year on year, driven largely by Red Sea diversions. Carriers clearly want to carry that level into November.
Now consider what the new service changes. SE5 sails Shanghai, Xiamen, Tanjung Pelepas, Suez Canal, Algeciras, Tangier Med, Algeciras, and back through Suez to Xiamen, transiting the Suez Canal rather than rounding the Cape of Good Hope. Two implications follow. First, shippers gain a direct option between China and the Western Mediterranean instead of relying entirely on transhipment. Second, the service doubles as a hub builder: connections via Tangier reach West Africa, and via Algeciras reach the east coast of Latin America. Together with the revision of SE1 through SE4 and NE1, where Rotterdam replaces Tangier as the first European call on NE1 with the first affected vessel calling at Ningbo on November 13, Gemini is reshuffling which Mediterranean ports get direct calls and which rely on hub connections. As of October 12, six Gemini Asia-Europe services had already returned to Suez, and Hapag-Lloyd chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen has said publicly that, if conditions hold, essentially all of the carrier's services should be back through Suez in the first quarter of 2027.
For shippers, three calculations follow. The first is quote validity: the FAK covers cargo loading only between November 1 and 14, so fourth-quarter contracts and spot quotations now in negotiation must state which loading window they belong to and who absorbs the increase. The second is routing: with new capacity heading into the West Mediterranean, spot rates in late November may struggle to hold the FAK level, so cargo without a hard deadline can wait to see actual post-launch pricing before committing. The third is transit commitments: if the Suez return broadens through the fourth quarter, Asia-Mediterranean voyage times will shorten materially versus Cape routings, and production and inventory plans built around diversion-era lead times should be renegotiated rather than rolled over.
Practical guidance for A-Choice customers: for West Mediterranean and North African cargo, lock space at current levels for anything loading by the end of October; for early-November loading, confirm whether a quote follows CMA CGM's FAK basis and obtain the full local-charge breakdown; for destinations in southern Spain, Morocco and nearby markets, evaluate the direct SE5 option, since saving one transhipment also removes one rollover risk; for cargo connecting through Tangier or Algeciras to West Africa or Latin America, confirm the second-leg connection interval with the carrier. The Mediterranean trade currently moves on both price and network fronts, and capturing the window matters more than betting on a direction.
