New Arctic route could cut shipping time in half

A new shipping route between the Chinese port of Ningbo-Zhoushan and Felixstowe in the United Kingdom launches this week, with claims it could cut the 40-day journey in half.

The weekly route between the export hub in Ningbo — the world's busiest port by cargo tonnage — and Felixstowe, which is the UK's largest container port, will be operated by the Chinese container shipping company Sea Legend, with ships passing through the Arctic via a course known as the Northern Sea Route along Russia's northern coast.

Sea Legend, which is known for connecting China with markets in Turkiye and North Africa, described the route as the "Ice Silk Road", in a nod to the trading route that famously connected China with Europe in antiquity.

The Northern Sea Route saw 15 such voyages in 2024 and 23 last year and is being seen as an increasingly viable option because of rising global seawater temperatures and reduced ice volumes, The Financial Times newspaper reported.

University of Southampton researchers said recently they recorded the largest drop in Arctic sea ice volumes on record during the peak winter period between 2024 and 2025, with the levels down by 5.8 percent.

Rahul Khanna, global head of marine risk consulting at insurance provider Allianz, told the paper: "There's been a definite increase in traffic through the Arctic and Northern Sea Route. Vessels and ship owners now see it as more of an opportunity, first to save a lot of time and costs," but also to get around some geopolitical choke points and conflict zones.

Those choke points include the Bab al-Mandab Strait that feeds into the Red Sea, where Houthi militants have disrupted shipping, and the Strait of Hormuz that connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, where military activity has also interrupted shipping.

The Northern Sea Route is administered by the Russian state-owned company Rosatom, which issues permits to companies wanting to use it.

The Ningbo-Felixstowe service is not the first container voyage via the Northern Sea Route, following a 2018 trial voyage by Danish shipping giant Maersk between Vladivostok in Russia's Far East and St. Petersburg.

But while the new route promises major savings in time, costs and fuel, it also adds to the challenges facing the Arctic.

Steven Guilbeault, a former environment minister in Canada's government, told The Financial Times it must be carefully managed if environmental damage is to be avoided.

"The impact of global warming in the Arctic is quite staggering," he told the paper. "Climate change will enhance security risks in the Arctic, particularly if there are more and more vessels in the Arctic."

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