Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd to sail more container ships through the Suez Canal

COPENHAGEN, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Shipping group Maersk said on Monday that four more of its joint container services with Germany's Hapag-Lloyd will resume sailings through the Suez Canal, as they gradually return to using the shortcut between Asia and Europe.

The Asia-Europe trade corridor through the Suez Canal was abandoned by most shippers earlier this decade after attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen's Houthis, forcing ships to take the much longer trip around Africa.

"The Suez Canal is a vital maritime corridor between East and West and a key driver of efficient global supply chains," Denmark's Maersk said in a statement.

"By transitioning the AE5, AE11, AE12 and ME2 services to the trans-Suez corridor instead of sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, we will offer more efficient transit times for customers," it added.

The two companies will continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East very closely, and any changes to their services within the Gemini cooperation network will depend on the absence of escalation in conflicts in the region, Maersk said.

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd in early July and later again in August announced that they would resume some services connecting Asia, the Mediterranean and Europe through the Suez Canal.

The two companies formed the Gemini network last year in a bid to cut their shipping costs and improve schedule reliability.

(Reporting by Louise Rasmussen, editing by Stine Jacobsen and Terje Solsvik)