South Korea to send first Arctic container ship

South Korea was set to send its first container ship through the Arctic on Saturday, with the PanStar Acro due to leave Busan New Port for Europe unless weather or other problems delayed the trial voyage.

An oceans ministry official said the ship would depart at 8 pm local time, or 1100 GMT, “unless there are unforeseen circumstances, such as bad weather.”

The ship is scheduled to sail to Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Gdansk in Poland before returning. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has said the voyage is expected to take about 45 days.

The test is intended to assess whether a route opened by melting Arctic sea ice can be commercially viable as disruption in Middle Eastern shipping lanes pushes governments and companies to seek alternatives.

The usual maritime route between Asia and Europe runs through the Suez Canal. The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy says travelling through the Arctic can cut the journey by about 7,000 kilometres and about 10 days.

South Korea's Vice Oceans Minister Nam Jae-hon said the Arctic route was “bound to become an alternative” to Middle Eastern shipping lanes as geopolitical risks and technological advances make it more competitive.

The voyage follows the Chinese container ship Dubai Tower, which left Ningbo for Europe this month, heading through the Bering Strait and along Russia's Arctic coast.

Marc Lanteigne, a political science professor at the Arctic University of Norway, said the South Korean and Chinese voyages showed the Northern Sea Route was becoming normalised as a “secondary maritime transit corridor.”

The route also raises questions involving Russia, because ships using it receive Russian navigation and weather services involving payments. South Korea's foreign ministry declined to comment when asked about the concerns, while the oceans ministry said consultations with relevant countries and agencies had been completed for the voyage.

Vladimir Tikhonov, a Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, said US and EU sanctions are not international law, unlike UN sanctions, and that South Korea may have few alternatives if the Arctic route proves economically viable.

Environmental groups warned that growing traffic on the Northern Sea Route could accelerate Arctic sea ice loss. Major carriers including CMA CGM, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have pledged to avoid Arctic shipping routes.