First Chinese Ship Sails to Europe via Arctic Route

China has begun its first commercial transit of the Northeast Passage, with the Yong Sheng, a 19,000-ton multipurpose cargo ship, heading for Russia’s Arctic waterway en route from Dalian to Rotterdam.

The Cosco-owned vessel, which has a capacity for 1,118 twenty foot equivalent units, left the northeastern Chinese port on August 8, and is expected to arrive in Rotterdam on September 11 — a transit of 35 days, compared with 48 days for the traditional southern route via the Suez Canal.

Arctic shipping is set for record activity in 2013, the fifth season of commercial transits, as melting sea ice opens up a route that cuts the distance between Japan and northern Europe by 40 percent compared with voyages via the Egyptian waterway.

Russia has granted permission for 370 ships to operate in or sail through its Northern Sea Route so far this year, compared with 46 full transits in 2012 and only four in 2010.

Analysts forecast rapid growth in Arctic shipping, with global warming expected to increase the shipping season from around five months at present to eight months by 2020.

Atomflot, the operator of Russia’s nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, estimates 15 million tons of cargo will transit the Northern Sea Route by 2021, and South Korea’s Maritime Institute thinks it could account for a quarter of Asia-Europe trade by 2030.

Source: Journal of Commerce