appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Xinyi Wu

China and Russia have signalled their willingness to boost the competitiveness of the Arctic shipping route, which is set to become more important as traditional routes between Asia and Europe remain vulnerable to disruption.
Transport Minister Liu Wei and Alexey Likhachev, the director general of Rosatom – the Russian state nuclear company responsible for managing the Northern Sea Route – pledged in a video meeting on Thursday to strengthen cooperation on the route.
Liu’s ministry said he expressed hopes that China and Russia would focus on “expanding the scale of shipping … and continuously enhancing the competitiveness of the Arctic shipping route to contribute to the economic and trade development of both countries, as well as the stability of regional logistics supply chains”.
Likhachev said Russia was willing to enhance port services for vessels transiting through the route and deepen training for polar crew members, the ministry said.
The North Sea Route – spanning Russia’s Arctic coast from the Barents Sea to the Bering Strait – used to be mostly impassable, but the melting of polar ice due to climate change and advances in icebreaker technology are making it more accessible.
“Its appeal is likely to grow as traditional routes, such as the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, become riskier,” Alicia Garcia-Herrero, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a think tank based in Brussels, said in a report released on Monday. She is also French investment bank Natixis’ chief Asia-Pacific economist.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz – a vital waterway which in peacetime handled around one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows – has largely come to a standstill in the six months since the US-Israeli war on Iran began, prompting governments to re-examine their trade routes and supply networks.
Xinhua reported this month that the Arctic route had begun regular commercial operation, with Chinese shipping company Sea Legend launching a weekly summer service connecting China to European ports including the Netherlands’ Rotterdam and Britain’s Felixstowe.
It said the route nearly halved the typical 40-day transit time for shipments via the Suez Canal, adding that the service would transport heat-sensitive goods such as energy storage units, power batteries and photovoltaic modules.
Garcia-Herrero said that while planned volumes remained relatively small, partly because Arctic vessels would only be a fifth the size of the container ships that passed through the Suez Canal, the service’s fixed schedules and pricing would allow Arctic transits to be integrated into supply chains.
Other nations are looking to tap into the Arctic passage too, with South Korea dispatching its first trial container ship to test the route on Saturday.
In the long term, China planned to maintain stable operations along the route for four months every year, Xinhua reported.


Chinese province urges firms to seize the day as Xi-Trump meeting provides trade stability

Former WTO head Pascal Lamy on the EU’s China choice: get a rebalance, or go protectionist

US announces AI dialogue with China, launches Board of Trade

China elevates Li Chenggang to top international trade role ahead of Xi’s US trip

China trade

China and Russia agree to boost competitiveness of Arctic shipping route

Members of China’s Arctic Ocean scientific expedition team drill through ice on its surface earlier this month. Photo: Xinhua

Sea Legend’s Dubai Tower container ship sets sail from the port of Ningbo in Zhejiang province on August 15, bound for Felixstowe in England on the first weekly container service via the Arctic Ocean’s Northern Sea Route. Photo: AFP/Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group

China debuts regular Arctic shipping service amid Iran war. Is this the Polar pivot?

The ship Dubai Tower, operated by Sea Legend, at Ningbo-Zhoushan port in Ningbo, eastern China’s Zhejiang province, on Saturday. Photo: AFP

India joins China and South Korea in push for Arctic shipping routes

An oil tanker traverses icy waters. Russia’s Northern Sea Route is attracting growing interest from Asia's commercial shipping lines. Photo: Shutterstock

A container ship operated by Chinese shipping line Sea Legend sets sail from the port of Ningbo, China, on August 15 headed to Felixstow, England, via the Arctic. Photo: Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group / AFP

An LNG carrier loads a cargo of liquefied natural gas at a terminal on Sakhalin island in Russia’s far east. Photo: AP

A flare stack is seen at a gas well in Qatar. The NSR offers no relief for Asia’s restricted energy flows from the Middle East. Photo: AFP

Why the Arctic sea route has become so important for China and Russia

Illustration: Davies Christian

China and Russia are expanding cooperation on energy and shipping. Photo: Shutterstock

First China, now South Korea: why Asian powers are turning to commercial Arctic shipping

Arctic shipping routes could cut transit times compared with traditional sea routes, such as passage via the Suez Canal and the much longer journey around the Cape of Good Hope. Photo: Shutterstock

China, Russia discuss boosting transport links as Middle East conflict disrupts shipping

An oil tanker navigates through young Arctic sea ice. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Russia’s 50 Years of Victory nuclear-powered icebreaker at the North Pole in August 2021. Photo: AFP

Economy

China Economy

Global Economy

Economist says appeal is likely to grow as traditional routes, such as the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz, become riskier


Economist says appeal is likely to grow as traditional routes, such as the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz, become riskier.


China and Russia agree to boost competitiveness of Arctic shipping route

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Economist says appeal is likely to grow as traditional routes, such as the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz, become riskier

Economist says appeal is likely to grow as traditional routes, such as the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz, become riskier