News / MSC rules out 'risky' Northern Sea Route for Asia-Europe services

Photo: VesselFinder

The world’s largest shipping line, MSC, today ruled out operating any Asia-Europe services via the Northern Sea Route.

Interest in the all-water route from China to Europe via the Arctic saw a resurgence last week with the launch of the China-Europe Arctic Express (CAX) service from Chinese carrier Sea Legend Shipping, with Russian carrier Safetrans Shipping and Chinese operator Haijie Shipping chartering slots.

Currently only deploying a single vessel, the 4,900 teu Istanbul Bridge (pictured above), the service offers a port rotation of Qingdao-Shanghai-Ningbo-Felixstowe-Rotterdam-Hamburg-Gdansk.

According to AIS data, the vessel departed Ningbo on 22 September and is currently south of Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula.

It is due to arrive at Felixstowe on 10 October – the 18-day transit from China to Northern Europe is claimed by Sea Legend as the fastest on the market, around a week quicker than the 25-day transit achieved on the China-Europe rail services, currently heavily disrupted after Poland closed its border with Belarus on 12 September.

The Loadstar reported last week that some 130 trains had been stranded by the border closure, although it reopened today.

The South Korean government has established a body to investigate shipping options, while other Chinese shipping interests have also been experimenting with the route, such as the Yangtze River port of Nanjing, which charted the 2,826 teu Honwell for a single China-St Petersburg voyage.

On 14 August, the vessel departed Nanjing’s Longtan Port Terminal, carrying lithium batteries and automobile parts. The ship appears to be dedicated to Russian trades, with vessel-tracking data showing Honwell regularly calling at St Petersburg.

The Nanjing municipal government said: “The Arctic is the golden waterway, as it could shorten sailing distances between Asia and Europe by more than 3,000 nautical miles. We hope this route will lead to more opportunities for Chinese and European businesses.”

Meanwhile, since the onset of the Red Sea crisis, most mainline carriers have diverted their vessels via the Cape of Good Hope, lengthening transit times as well as increasing emissions.

Sea Legend claimed the route would see vessel emissions slashed by 50%, compared with the Cape of Good Hope route.

However, MSC told The Loadstar shipping via the Arctic could have serious environmental impacts of its own, while existing capacity serving the Asia-Europe trades was ample to cater for demand.

“The Northern Sea Route remains underdeveloped for commercial shipping since safe navigation and transit are not assured,” it said. “An increase in Arctic transit traffic may also impact the fragile ecosystem of the region and the ice caps.

“More ships transiting the Northern Sea Route could also affect remote Arctic communities by congesting existing shipping lanes and slowing down necessary traffic, which is an essential lifeline for their survival and prosperity.

“Furthermore, there is no operational reason for our fleet and standalone network to transit the Arctic, as we have the capacity and means to safely and reliably transport customer cargo globally without using the Northern Sea Route,” it added.