Iran War Reshapes Container Shipping as Far East-Europe Trade Absorbs Record Capacity

The ongoing conflict involving Iran is fundamentally redrawing global container shipping trade patterns, with carriers directing an outsized share of new vessel capacity toward the Far East-Europe corridor, according to container shipping specialist Alphaliner. In a report published Tuesday, Alphaliner revealed that 667,400 TEU of the 1.84 million TEU added to the global fleet through new deliveries between May 2025 and May 2026 was deployed on the Far East-Europe trade, representing 36% of all new capacity added during that period. Capacity on the Far East-Europe route grew 8.5% year-on-year as carriers continued routing services around the Cape of Good Hope rather than transiting the Red Sea. The trade now accounts for 25% of the global container fleet, up from 20.8% three years ago. Overall, the global container fleet expanded 5.7% year-on-year to reach 33.9 million TEU over the same 12-month period. Services covering the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent saw deployed capacity fall 7.6% year-on-year, as vessels trapped in the Arab Gulf were removed from active trade calculations. Africa-related shipping services recorded the strongest growth of any trade lane, with capacity rising 25.3% year-on-year. Latin America also attracted new capacity, with services linked to the region growing 7.8%. By contrast, the Europe-North America trade saw capacity decline 1.8%, while the Asia-North America route remained broadly flat.