China, Korea Ship via Arctic to Skip Suez — SkimNews
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- Sea Legend launched a weekly service between China and Europe via the Northern Sea Route, with the container ship Dubai Tower arriving at Teesport, England on September 9 after a 25-day voyage from Ningbo-Zhoushan Port before continuing on to Hamburg and Gdynia, Poland.
- PanStar Arco, a South Korean container ship, departed Busan on August 22 for Europe via the Arctic — the first South Korean vessel to test the route since 2016 — arriving at Felixstowe on September 12, Rotterdam on September 13, and Gdansk on September 16, with a round-trip expected in about 45 days.
- The Northern Sea Route runs 13,000 kilometers — 36% shorter than the 20,300-kilometer Suez passage — making the China-to-Europe voyage at least 20 days faster, though it trades the risk of Houthi attacks for sea-ice hazards; the PanStar Arco was built at China's Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard with ice-class features, and Russia has more than 20 icebreakers capable of working the route.
- Cargo on these voyages includes electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, renewable energy equipment, machinery, used cars, auto parts, and chemical products; at least seven more Chinese container ships are expected to follow Dubai Tower this year, and 29 Chinese vessels used the route last year, according to the source.
- South Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries initiated a study of the commercial viability of arctic shipping routes and plans to assess trade efficiency gains through the 2030s, with the Korean Maritime Institute framing the route as a "strategic nexus" tied to the Maritime Capital Region Strategy centered on Ulsan and Busan.
- Japan under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government has focused on supporting Ukraine, taking relations with Russia to a new low, while European shipping companies avoid the Northern Sea Route for political and environmental reasons and prefer the longer Cape of Good Hope passage — leaving Chinese and South Korean operators to capture the business.
Why it matters: European ports and customers want the cargo, but European politicians oppose Chinese imports and cooperation with Russia — so Chinese and South Korean operators capture a route that's 36% shorter and 20 days faster than Suez while European shipping firms boycott it on political and environmental grounds. Russia gains icebreaker-supported traffic, and Japan's Ukraine stance sidelines it from this trade.
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