First Panamax Containership Completes Arctic Transit, Reaches China in Three Weeks

First Panamax Containership Completes Arctic Transit, Reaches China in Three Weeks

The first Arctic voyage of a large container ship has been successfully completed. The 294-meter-long Panamax vessel Flying Fish 1 traveled from St. Petersburg in the Baltic Sea to China in just over three weeks, cutting about two weeks off the traditional route through the Suez Canal. It is expected to arrive in Shanghai on September 26. The vessel is operated by EZ Safetrans Logistics, based in Hong Kong.

A decade ago, the idea of regular summer container shipping across Russia’s Northern Sea Route seemed impossible. However, this year the Arctic Ocean will see nearly 20 transit voyages, connecting Russian and Chinese ports via this Arctic shortcut.

Capable of carrying 4,890 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), Flying Fish 1 sets a new standard for Arctic container shipping. Previously, only smaller container ships carrying around 1,500-2,000 TEUs attempted the Arctic route. In recent months, several larger vessels have established a seasonal liner service between China and Russian ports like Arkhangelsk and St. Petersburg.

Flying Fish 1 departed St. Petersburg on September 3 and entered the Northern Sea Route near Novaya Zemlya a week later. It crossed paths with another Chinese container ship, marking the first encounter between two large container vessels in the Arctic, just 850 nautical miles from the North Pole, with no sea ice in sight.

The vessel maintained a steady speed of 16 knots along the entire route, a sign of how Arctic ice conditions have changed dramatically in the last two decades. Flying Fish 1 navigated the Laptev and East Siberian seas, avoiding late-summer ice near Wrangel Island, and exited the route through the Bering Strait near Alaska on September 17 without needing icebreaker assistance, only six days after entering Russian Arctic waters.

When completed, the journey from the Baltic Sea to Shanghai will cover approximately 8,000 nautical miles, around 4,000 nautical miles shorter than the traditional Suez Canal route. The detour that many ships currently take around South Africa due to instability in the Red Sea adds another 4,000 miles to the usual route to Asia.

For now, shipping services between Europe and Asia via the Arctic are limited to a 3-4 month summer window, but as Arctic ice recedes earlier and returns later, more operators are expected to explore this route for future opportunities.