Evergreen sends its first ship through Suez Canal in nearly three years as canal receipts pick up steam

Taiwanese container carrier Evergreen has resumed sailings through the Suez Canal after a nearly three-year hiatus prompted by Red Sea disruptions, according to a Suez Canal Authority (SCA) statement. The line marked its return on Sunday, 8 November with the transit of the 16.6k TEU mega container vessel Ever Eon, which sailed through as part of the canal’s north convoy on its voyage from Rotterdam to Singapore. Evergreen plans to gradually route more scheduled sailings back through the waterway.

Why it matters: Evergreen’s return chips away at the multi-year revenue hit sustained by the SCA, whose receipts dropped 45.5% to USD 3.6 bn in FY 2024/25 after carriers rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Red Sea. While toll receipts bounced back 18.5% to USD 2 bn in 1H FY 2025/26, they remain roughly 53% below the USD 4.3 bn of the same period in FY 2022/23. The rebound is accelerating: October receipts rose 94% y-o-y to USD 724 mn, the highest monthly level since the Red Sea crisis began. The Taiwanese line is the latest major carrier to redirect vessels through the shortcut, following Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd’s decision to reroute an Asia–Europe service in July, as well as selective service resumptions by CMA CGM, MSC, and COSCO.

Rigging up in Kuwait

Egyptian Drilling Company (EDC) landed a second rig contract in Kuwait, with expected revenue of about USD 30 mn over five years, and the rig is due to start work in March 2027, Asharq Business reports, citing an unnamed government official. It follows the 1.5k-horsepower rig EDC agreed to operate for Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) in January. EDC has been in the Kuwaiti market since 2022, doing well maintenance and repair and managing a well-maintenance rig with a Kuwaiti partner.

The contract extends an overseas build-out: EDC sent its EDC 42 and 52 rigs into Turkey in April under a USD 43 mn contract with TPAO and is now targeting Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Turkey — with India, the UAE, Oman, and West Africa next. It plans to spend about USD 100 mn on three new rigs and a fleet upgrade in FY 2026/27, which began in July. The company booked revenue of about USD 402 mn in 2025, with net income after tax of about USD 132 mn, while logging an operating efficiency rate of 98.8%.