Chinese Container Ships Take Arctic Shortcut Avoiding Red Sea

By Malte Humpert (gCaptain) –

Two Chinese container ships have set course for the Arctic. The vessels intend to use Russia’s Northern Sea Route as a shortcut to connect ports in China with destinations in Europe. 

The Arctic route allows operators to avoid the troublesome waters of the Red Sea without detouring via the Cape of Good Hope. 

Xin Xin Hai 1 departed from the Port of Taicang near Shanghai on July 5 and has since passed through the Bering Strait and onto the Northern Sea Route. The 21,279 deadweight tonnes (DWT) vessel can carry 1,220 standard containers (TEU).

While parts of the route are already free of sea ice for the summer, more challenging conditions in the East Siberian Sea mandate an icebreaker escort for the light ice-class vessel.

Xin Xin Hai 1 is currently being escorted by nuclear icebreaker Sibir.  

Meanwhile its sister ship Xin Xin Hai 2 follows around a week behind. The 29,008 DTW vessel departed from the Chinese port of Rizhao in mid-July and is currently en route to the Bering Strait. 

The vessels are operated by New New Shipping Line. The company began operating in the Arctic last summer completing seven voyages between July and December, including a controversial trip by the NewNew Polar Bear resulting in damage to subsea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. This summer it aims to expand its operations. 

Both vessels are bound for the northwest-Russian port of Arkhangelsk before traveling on toward ports in the Baltic Sea.

Several Panamax container ships, able to carry around 5,000 TEU, have also received permission to sail along the route. They would become the largest box carriers to traverse the route. 

Flying Fish 1, SFT Turkey and SFT Egypt are all registered to Safetrans Line out of Hong Kong. Safetrans Line describes itself as a specialist for the China-Russia containerized liner service. 

Without ice classification SFT Turkey and SFT Egypt will be limited to operations starting after August 1. 

Among the world’s major Western container shipping operators, Danish Maersk remains the only company to have completed a journey via the Arctic route. Its feeder vessel Venta Maersk completed an Arctic transit in August 2018. 

Even prior to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, operators including MSC, CMA CGM, and Happag Lloyd had publicly backed away from using the route due to environmental reasons. MSC reaffirmed its decision as recently as last week.

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