Chinese ship starts Arctic route to Europe

A Chinese container ship has left Ningbo for Europe through the Arctic's Northern Sea Route, starting a new weekly service on a route that can cut China-Europe shipment times to about half the Suez Canal route.

The Dubai Tower departed the eastern Chinese port city on Saturday evening. Sea Legend's timetable says it will pass through the Bering Strait and along Russia's northern coast before reaching Felixstowe in the United Kingdom on September 7, with later stops that week in Hamburg, Germany, and Gdynia, Poland.

The route is faster than the Suez Canal route and can avoid the Red Sea, where shipping has been targeted by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. It is only accessible without icebreakers during the part of the year when Arctic ice has melted enough for transit.

Sea Legend had been set to run voyages until October 3 and tested the route last year, when it said a China-to-Europe container ship transit along Russia's Arctic coast took 20 days. Other companies have used the passage before, including Maersk in 2018.

Allianz Commercial shipping analysis said 23 container ships used the route in 2025, up from 15 in 2024. The Ocean Conservancy has warned that increased Arctic shipping could have severe environmental effects, and major shipping companies including CMA CGM, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have pledged to avoid Arctic trans-shipment routes.

China has outlined plans for greater access to the region through a Polar Silk Road.