Russia and China’s collaboration in the Arctic continues, now with new plans to build high ice-class containerships to begin year-round shipments on the Northern Sea Route. Though the details, including the size of the vessels and who will build them, remain scarce, highnorthnews.
Seven Arctic container
Following seven Arctic container voyages in 2023 and more than a dozen in 2024, China’s NewNew Shipping Line looks set to take the next step to expand its services along the Northern Sea Route.
New Shipping Line operates a number of no and lower ice-class vessels allowing it to travel across the Arctic on the Northern Sea Route between July and November. To further expand operation into the shoulder season or eventually the winter months, more ice-capable vessels will be required.
Container ships getting bigger
The size of container ships on the Arctic route has increased substantially over the past two years. Following smaller feeder-type vessels in 2023, this summer saw several much larger Panamax container ships with a capacity of close to 5,000 TEU. In a recent report Norway’s Center for High Logistics detailed that around 145,000 tons of containerized cargo had traveled between Russia and China this summer.
Chinese yards have constructed a number of high ice-class vessels in recent years, including the heavy lift vessels Audax and Pugnax and more recently the oil tankers Boris Sokolov and Anatoly Lamekhov.
The world’s first Arc7 ice-class oil and condensate tanker, Boris Sokolov, was launched by Guangzhou Shipyard International Co. (GSI) in China in 2018. Several others have since followed.
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Source: Highnorthnews
