In a recent move, ocean and air cargo carriers have rolled out temporary suspensions for numerous Middle East-connected services in response to a presently-on military conflict that is taking place between Iran and the U.S. along with Israel, which has indeed sparked very wide chaos in the region.
As per Flexport in one of its blog posts on February 28, 2026, in the near term, businesses should rather prepare for much longer lead times as well as tight capacity, along with elevated rates and even continuous volatility throughout both ocean and air networks.
Apparently, CMA CGM has gone ahead and suspended the Suez Canal passage until further notice and is also rerouting certain vessels through the Cape of Good Hope of Africa. The carrier has also taken the decision to halt bookings when it comes to hazardous as well as reefer cargo to many of the Middle East nations and apparently has also levied an emergency conflict charge pertaining to the affected cargo.
Notably, the surcharge, which started on March 02, 2026, amounts to $2,000 for every twenty-foot equivalent container unit and $3,000 for every container unit that’s a forty-foot equivalent.
According to CMA CGM in its surcharge notice, they do understand that these measures may cause logistics and supply chain disruptions, but they indeed are essential steps that also lead to more operational costs.
Additionally, there are other ocean carriers that are also deploying the same measures. MSC has gone ahead and suspended all bookings related to worldwide cargo to the Middle East till the security situation sees an improvement.
Hapag-Lloyd, on the other hand, is putting a war risk surcharge when it comes to cargo from the Upper Gulf, Persian, as well as the Arabian Gulf. This surcharge is levied at $1,500 per TEU for the standard containers and $3,500 for every container when it comes to reefer as well as special equipment.
And Maersk has stalled any future sailings via the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at least for now, and has rerouted its fleet through the Cape of Good Hope.
The fact is that the conflict is most likely to halt any plans when it comes to a return of Red Sea container shipping ops till the security gets better, opines Peter Sand, the chief analyst with Xeneta.
It doesn’t come as a surprise, as major shipping lines have been avoiding the Suez Canal route since late 2023 because of the Houthi-led attacks on cargo ships, with a consistent mitigation tactic to rather sail around the Cape of Good Hope. The longer sailing distances go on to absorb almost 2.5 million TEUs of worldwide container shipping capacity, as per Sand.
Sand adds that “with a large-scale return of container ships to the Red Sea in 2026 now unlikely, freight rates on major global trades will continue to soften but will not fall as hard as previously expected in the second half of the year as more services return to Suez Canal transits.”
Meanwhile, there are multiple air cargo carriers that are actually halting the operations because of airspace closures across the Middle East.
FedEx confirmed in a service alert that it pushed on March 01, 2026, that the flights to and from Iraq, Israel, Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Saudi Arabia, have gotten suspended. The carrier also went on to warn that the shipments to and from other markets across the region may as well experience much longer transit times.
Moreover, Emirates SkyCargo, on the other hand, has gone ahead and suspended flights and even placed temporary restrictions on the booking and acceptance of all new shipments on their flights for another 24 hours, as per its official website. Qatar Airways Cargo has also taken the similar step of suspending flight ops because of the Qatari airspace closure.
Apparently, the air cargo suspensions are making way for much extended transit times and also irregular schedules, and the customers should anticipate probable delays or even, for that matter, cancellations, space issues, as well as short-notice rate alterations in the days and weeks to come, confirms an advisory from DSV.
For shippers who happen to be affected due to the logistics and supply chain disruptions in the Middle East, DSV has sought many measures. The freight forwarder remarked that the customers should rather share the updated shipment forecasts in order to support the capacity planning and also confirm the bookings much earlier in order to secure the space, consider any congestion effects when it comes to safety stock evaluations, and look out for alternatives wherever feasible.
