Chinese Company Establishes Arctic Shipping Route
A Chinese shipping company is inaugurating the first regular container shipping route through the Arctic (Financial Times, subscription).
What’s going on: “The Arctic is emerging as a viable alternative to the world’s traditional shipping routes as melting polar ice shortens the journey between Europe and Asia and vessels seek to avoid maritime chokepoints.”
- Chinese carrier Sea Legend will launch a weekly route through the Arctic—which the company is calling the “Ice Silk Road.” It will run along the northern coast of Russia and stretch from Ningbo on China’s east coast to Felixstowe on England’s Suffolk coast.
Why it’s important: The new route is expected to slash the sailing time between the two ports—which is over 10,000 nautical miles—by half, from about 40 days to around 20 days “depending on the conditions in the Arctic Circle.”
- It also allows vessels to avoid currently dangerous chokepoints such as the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea.
Why now: Sea ice melts enough in the region in the summer months to allow ships to travel without requiring icebreakers.
