East China port launches first Arctic shipping route to Europe

An aerial drone photo shows a view of the container terminal of Zhoushan Port in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province, Jan. 4, 2025. (Photo by Zou Xunyong/Xinhua)

HANGZHOU, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in the eastern province of Zhejiang launched its first China-Europe Arctic container express route on Monday, marking the first time the port has extended a route to the Arctic Ocean.

The move is expected to provide strong support for foreign trade enterprises to expand into new international logistics channels, the port said.

Sun Xuejun, chairman of Zhejiang Seaport Logistics Group Co., Ltd., said that the new service is a container route that passes through the Arctic, specifically developed for cross-border e-commerce and high-value goods.

The new route crosses directly to Europe via the Northeast Arctic passage, slashing the transit time from Zhoushan Port to Britain's Felixstowe Port to just 18 days. This is significantly faster than the China-Europe freight train (about 25 days), the Suez Canal route (about 40 days), and the Cape of Good Hope route (about 50 days).

The route's maiden voyage is set to reach Felixstowe on Oct. 10. The shipment includes a mix of goods such as daily necessities, clothing, spare machinery parts, as well as high-value items like energy storage cabinets and power batteries. Once in Felixstowe, these goods will be distributed across Europe, according to local customs authorities in Ningbo.