Chinese Containership ‘Istanbul Bridge’ Reaches UK via Arctic Route in Record 20 Days

Chinese containership Istanbul Bridge is scheduled to arrive at the UK’s largest terminal Felixstowe during the afternoon of October 13. The Panamax vessel completed the 7,500 nautical mile voyage from China via the Arctic Northern Sea Route in just 20 days. A comparable voyage through the Suez Canal measures 11,000 nautical miles and routinely takes between 40-50 days. 

Istanbul Bridge’s voyage is the first liner-type service via the polar region connecting Asia and Europe and calling at several Chinese and European ports. It is also the first time a container ship has traveled from China to the UK via the Arctic. 

Sealegend, the operator of the Istanbul Bridge, calls the new service “China-Europe Arctic Express”. The company laid the foundation for the route with the acquisition of the Ice-1 ice-class containership last year.

The company’s Chief Operating Officer Li Xiaobin highlighted the reduced emissions of the shorter Arctic voyage. But environmental advocates warn of the local impact of emissions, especially if vessels are using heavy fuel oil resulting in black carbon emissions. It is unclear what type of fuel the Istanbul Bridge was using during its transit and if it was in full compliance with the IMO’s Polar Code.

Istanbul Bridge’s Arctic voyage aims to beat the Fall rush into European terminals when containerships arrive delivering Asian goods for the holiday season.

“[The Arctic route] greatly enhances supply chain speed, reduces required business inventory by 40 percent and cuts capital costs for businesses,” Sealegend’s Li explained.

Loaded with up to 4,843 standard containers (TEU) the box carrier departed from Ningbo-Zhoushan on September 22. It crossed Russia’s Northern Sea Route in just 5 days at an average speed of 17 knots. This late in the summer navigation season very little sea ice remains along the main Arctic shipping lane. The vessel did not receive any icebreaker escort and navigated independently along the entire length of the route. 

After the Felixstowe port call the carrier will continue onward to Rotterdam, Hamburg and Gdansk. While Istanbul Bridge has received much of the public media attention in recent weeks, it is not the only container shipping company testing the Arctic waters. A least three other box carriers were active on the route at the same time conducting point-to-point voyages. Russia’s Northern Sea Route has set a new record for containership activity this summer surpassing more than 20 transits. 

The first full transit of a containership came just 7 years ago in August 2018 when operator Maersk sent the feeder-class Venta Maersk from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg, with a stop in Bremerhaven. Since then Western operators have largely backed away from the route for environmental and political reasons ceding the Arctic waters to Chinese operators. 

While the route remains very niche – in 2024 it saw around 100 vessel transits compared to 13,000 for the Suez Canal – a number of companies have continuously expanded their Arctic operations.

NewNew Shipping, another Chinese containership operator, has five vessels operating in the region this summer aiming to surpass last year’s record of 13 Arctic sailings.

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