China Launches Containership Route To Europe via the Arctic

After several years of point-to-point container shipping operations connecting China and Russia via the Arctic, a Chinese operator is set to begin the liner-type service to Western Europe.

The routing will connect the port of Ningbo-Zhoushan with the UK’s largest container port, Felixstowe, with onward sailings to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Hamburg, Germany and Gdansk, Poland. Of note is that Haijie’s service will bypass Russian ports entirely.

The inaugural voyage, set to depart on September 20, has been fully booked, the company said in a statement. The Arctic portion of the route from Ningbo to Felixstowe via Russia’s Northern Sea Route is scheduled to take just 18 days, less than half of a traditional sailing via the Suez Canal.

For now the route will be seasonal until high ice-class containerships can expand the sailing window into winter and spring.

Source: highnorthnews.com