Last month, Beijing launched what is claimed to be the first regular Northern Sea Route (NSR) service to Europe. Against this backdrop, South Korea sent a container ship last week along the Arctic route towards Europe for a trial voyage. This move is seen by observers as Seoul’s challenge to Beijing in the competition for access to the Arctic route to Europe.
According to the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, South Korea dispatched the PanStar Acro container ship last week from Busan, sailing along the Russian Arctic coast towards Europe, initiating South Korea’s first commercial trial voyage on the Northern Sea Route.
This approximately 45-day round trip journey will make stops in Felixstowe, the UK, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Gdańsk, Poland. South Korea aims to evaluate the practical commercial value of the Arctic route and explore a new maritime route connecting Asia and Europe.
The South Korean government stated that compared to the traditional route via the Suez Canal, the Northern Sea Route significantly shortens the shipping distance between South Korea and Europe, reducing fuel and operating costs. Yonhap previously pointed out that the Arctic route could shorten the distance between South Korea and Europe by about 35%.
For South Korea, which heavily relies on maritime trade, the Arctic route also serves the purpose of risk diversification. If vital shipping chokepoints like the Hormuz Strait or the Suez Canal are affected by conflicts or other crises, the Asia-Europe supply chain could face disruptions.
Furthermore, the Arctic route also holds the goal of revitalizing Busan for South Korea. This major port city has experienced a population decline of around 15% in the past 30 years, with the outflow of young people and declining industrial vitality posing long-term challenges.
Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo has been a strong advocate for developing the Northern Sea Route, aiming to leverage the city’s existing infrastructure in ports, shipbuilding, logistics, and maritime industries to establish the city as a crucial hub for Arctic shipping.
Almost simultaneously with the departure of South Korean cargo vessels, the “Dubai Tower” cargo ship under the Chinese shipping company Sea Legend set sail from Ningbo Zhoushan Port on August 15, with an expected arrival in Felixstowe, the UK, in 20 days.
The company stated that the cargo ship initiated container shipping services from China to Europe via the Northern Sea Route. The route operates a weekly service for 7 weeks, continuing until early October.
This route was developed by Russia to bypass Western blockades. The Northern Sea Route starts from the western border of Russia with Western Europe, traverses the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea, and ultimately reaches Asia through the Bering Strait, making it one of the shortest maritime transport routes between Europe and Asia. It shortens travel time by around half compared to the traditional Suez route, saving roughly 30 days compared to rounding the Cape of Good Hope.
However, Arctic shipping is not just a matter of taking a detour through the Arctic. Factors such as changing sea ice conditions, limited navigation seasons, insurance and financing, as well as rescue and port capabilities, could all influence whether the route can establish stable commercial services.
Moon Ye-chan, a researcher at Yonsei University, mentioned that the key to whether Arctic shipping can truly become a regular commercial route lies not only in the length of the journey but also in factors like insurance, financing, sources of goods, transit rules, and schedule reliability.
Currently, South Korea’s maiden voyage is more of a commercial feasibility test. Whether the Northern Sea Route can ultimately become a stable trade channel between Asia and Europe, whether Busan can regain growth momentum through this, and whether it can emerge victorious in the competition for the new route with Beijing, all await further voyages and market validation.