Industry News

Chinese shipper Sea Legend is starting the world's first regular cargo service to Europe through the icy waters of the Arctic.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Sea Legend is sending its Dubai Tower vessel between Ningbo, China, and Felixstowe in the United Kingdom, along a route that follows Russia's northern coast. The Dubai Tower can carry up to 1,740 twenty-foot containers, making it the largest commercial ship to transit the Arctic since a Maersk container vessel made the journey in 2018. 

Known as the Northern Sea Route (NSR), the 3,500 mile path cuts through the Arctic Circle, and more than halves the time it takes to sail between China and Europe. Although frigid temperatures and millions of square miles of sea ice have traditionally meant that the route is only navigable during a short summer period, that window has been widened in recent years by warming ocean temperatures, with the Arctic's summer sea ice coverage having fallen by a third since 1979.

Sea Legend claims that the shorter Arctic route could halve emissions and provide significant savings on fuel costs, while providing a much-needed alternative to longer voyages through the Suez Canal and around Africa's Cape of Good Hope. However, the journey could still pose other environmental risks, The Guardian reports. Any fuel spill along the NSR would be far more difficult to clean up than a normal spill, given that oil decomposes slowly in cold weather, while it's nearly impossible to remove the substance once it gets trapped in ice. 

Source: www.supplychainbrain.com