The Chinese firm Sealegend Shipping will now inaugurate weekly voyages from China to northern Europe via Russia’s Arctic corridor, called the Northern Sea Route (NSR). This was announced on August 7 by Rosatom CEO Aleksey Likhachev. Rosatom has been NSR’s official infrastructure operator since 2018, as they operate the world’s only nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, called Atomflot.
He announced: “Today, we are taking the next step. The Chinese shipping company Sealegend Shipping is indeed planning to launch the first regular route to Europe, and Rosatom has already issued permits for seven vessels to transit the NSR.” An initial trial run had already shown that the route cuts the previous time almost in half, from 37 to 20 days.
Likhachev acknowledged that the growing demand for shipping through the NSR comes amid a “permanently difficult situation” in the Persian Gulf. While this is not to be doubted, it is also the case that, from 2023 to 2025, Chinese container traffic via the NSR had already more than tripled. Russia has invested heavily in creating this pivotal global trade artery, and Putin tagged it the “safest, most reliable and most efficient” such route. Now, India is also in the process of finalizing a pact with Moscow for transiting the NSR.
