Arctic voyage: Chinese freighter halves EU delivery time

BEIJING: A Chinese container ship has completed a pioneering journey through the Arctic to a UK port,
state-run news agency Xinhua reported, cutting in half the usual transit time for the electric vehicles and solar panels aboard destined for Europe.

The Istanbul Bridge’s maiden voyage, originally expected to take 18 days, was delayed by two days due to a storm off the coast of Norway but the ship still reached Europe earlier than the 40 to 50 days it takes freighters going through the Suez Canal or around the Cape of Good Hope.

Last week, US President Donald Trump and Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb sealed an agreement on Thursday for the US Coast Guard to acquire up to 11 icebreaker ships to bolster United States national security in the Arctic.

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IT’S THANKS TO GLOBAL WARMING

The new Northern Sea Route, running entirely through Arctic waters and within Russia’s exclusive economic zone, can now be navigated by ships due to global warming.

Read more: Study shows how changes in Antarctica are fuelling global warming

China is exploring speedier maritime links with the European Union — the world’s third-largest economy – while in the middle of a costly trade war with the United States, the world’s biggest consumer market.

The push reflects Beijing’s need to diversify its export markets to sustain growth in an economy
heavily dependent on selling its manufactured goods overseas.

Exports to Europe rose an annual 14 per cent in September, Chinese customs data shows, while shipments to the US fell 27 per cent over the same period.

Over the past four decades, the Arctic has warmed about four times faster than the global average, resulting in a dramatic reduction in sea ice and creating seasonal windows for commercial shipping.

But weather and sailing conditions along the Arctic passage can be unpredictable.

Carrying around 4,000 containers from the Chinese port of Zhoushan, the Istanbul Bridge docked in Felixstowe, Britain’s largest container port, on Monday and was scheduled to make stops in Germany, Poland and the Netherlands, Xinhua said.

The ship is operated by Chinese-controlled container line Sea Legend, it said.

The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

In recent years, Beijing has deepened maritime cooperation with Russia in Arctic waters, as China seeks an alternative shipping route to reduce its dependence on the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia.

THE RACE FOR ARCTIC, AMONG MANY OTHERS

Trump and Stubb have established friendly ties since Trump regained power in January, and the two met in March at the president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and played a round of golf.

The two leaders approved a memorandum of understanding on icebreaker cooperation that is intended to lay the foundation for commercial agreements between the US Coast Guard and Finnish companies.

Under the agreement, Finland will build four “Arctic security cutters” at shipyards in Finland, and then the US will leverage Finnish expertise to construct up to seven new ASCs in shipyards located in the United States.

Read more: Vance says Greenland will be more secure under US than Denmark

“We’re buying the finest icebreakers in the world, and Finland is known for making them,” Trump said, sitting side by side with Stubb in the Oval Office.

Stubb called it a “huge strategic decision” by Trump “because we all know that the Arctic is important strategically.”

The 11 Arctic security cutters — new medium icebreakers to be used by the US Coast Guard — are expected to cost about $6.1 billion, a White House official said.