Maersk back by March

Here are the stories driving the day both at home and abroad. Maersk expects all of its services back through the Suez Canal by March 2027, Chief Operating Officer Rabab Boulos told Suez Canal Authority Chairman Osama Rabie yesterday, calling the canal the group’s “optimal choice,” according to the authority’s account of the meeting. Maersk’s Gemini-alliance partner Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen expects “more or less all” of its services back through Suez in 1Q 2027, with an exception or two.

The shift is already showing in the traffic: Maersk-affiliated vessels made 276 transits in January-September 2026, up from 146 a year earlier, and their tonnage more than tripled, per SCA figures — though off the depths of the diversion, with canal-wide traffic still far below pre-diversion levels.

Egyptian ports are regaining calls too: In its latest network adjustments, Maersk said its AE11 service would call at Port Said westbound in place of Tangier and AE19 would add Damietta, with first sailings leaving Asia in mid-November.

^^ We’ll have more on this story in tomorrow’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Things are looking up in C-Town as temperatures climb to a breezy 30°C tomorrow, with the low hitting a clear 20°C in the evening, according to our favorite weather app.

MAKING HEADLINES ABROAD-

In the latest Russia-Ukraine talks, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg today to discuss potential ceasefire terms in the ongoing war with Ukraine. Witkoff said Russia agreed — following a direct request from US President Donald Trump — to release 74-year-old US citizen Stephen Hubbard, who has been held captive in Russia for more than four years on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.

On the other hand, tensions between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appear to be easing as the US resumes sharing intelligence with Kyiv on Russian missile strikes following a meeting with Witkoff in Norway on Tuesday. Read more on: BBC, CNN, Reuters, and The Guardian.

MEANWHILE- France is facing mounting fiscal pressure as the yield on its 10-year government bonds hit 5% today for the first time since 2002, reflecting growing investor concerns over the country’s public finances. The pressure stems from a divided parliament struggling to pass a budget aimed at reducing the country’s deficit and public debt. Read more on: Bloomberg, CNBC, and Reuters.

IN TECH NEWS- SpaceX jumped in premarket trading today after CEO Elon Musk floated a potential Tesla merger, and the company posted better-than-expected revenue growth in 3Q, rising 161% y-o-y to USD 14.6 bn. The surge follows a string of ambitious promises from Musk, including space-based data centers, a reusable Starship rocket, and satellite internet ventures. Read more on: Bloomberg and CNBC.