New China-Europe container lane via Arctic passage halves transit time

Port of Felixstowe [credit: John Fielding @ Flickr/Wikipedia]

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China Daily says: ‘more than eight voyages [are] planned from mid-August through late September or early October. Such a schedule would have been difficult to imagine just a year ago.’ Major advances in satellite monitoring since 2015 play a big part in this (details here). Insurers insist on the latest tech being adopted by commercial vessels on Arctic routes, as conditions can change at any time. Of course minimum summer sea ice has also reduced sufficiently in recent times (for whatever reasons!) to make this feasible and worthwhile, at least for a few weeks this year. Extra motivation comes this year from much-publicised shipping problems in the Strait of Hormuz. Expected journey time is around 20 days compared to 40 via the Middle East routes. Also the cold conditions favour energy storage and battery cargoes, the report notes. First stop: Felixstowe container docks, England.
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The China-Europe Arctic container express route officially entered regular weekly operations on Saturday, opening a faster, more efficient and resilient northbound logistics corridor between China and Europe, reports China Daily.
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The Sea Legend Line has already drawn up a liner schedule for this year’s navigation season, with more than eight voyages planned from mid-August through late September or early October. Such a schedule would have been difficult to imagine just a year ago.
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However, it only has a short summer navigation window, as ice and weather are difficult to predict. Some industry insiders said that the Arctic route, which is navigable from late July to October, remains constrained by ice conditions, and therefore cannot replace the traditional routes soon.

Li Xiaobin, chief operating officer of Sea Legend Line, said that with advances in icebreaking and energy propulsion technologies, the navigation period could potentially be extended to eight to 10 months in the next three to five years.

Full report here.
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Image: Port of Felixstowe [credit: John Fielding @ Flickr/Wikipedia]