The Chinese container ship Istanbul Bridge arrived Monday afternoon at Felixstowe, after a 20-day voyage from China via the Arctic. A voyage via the Suez Canal would have taken at least twice as long.
“The route significantly improves the speed of the supply chain, reduces the necessary business inventory by 40 percent, and reduces the capital costs for the companies,” says Li Xiaobin, CEO of China-Europe Arctic Express, which operates the new route.
Xiaobin also highlights the environmental benefit of using the shorter route, though without mentioning which fuel Istanbul Bridge used during the voyage.
The ice-strengthened container ship sailed alone and at no point received icebreaker assistance.
After calling at Felixstowe, the ship continues on to Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Gdansk – thus passing through Danish waters.
Istanbul Bridge’s voyage is the first liner service via the Arctic, but far from the first container ship to pass through the Arctic. Already in August 2018, the then newly-built Venta Maersk sailed from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg, with a stop in Bremerhaven.
-mauh
