2023-10-06 21:26:43
The Arctic ice has lost the battle. Long impassable for commercial ships, they have given way to the efforts of Russia and China, aided by global warming. Russia announced this Friday the arrival from China of a first ship via the “Northern Sea Route” linking Asia to Europe via the Arctic, one of Moscow’s great hopes for developing its international trade. .
“Today the first ship arrived in the Kaliningrad region via the Northern Sea Route,” regional governor Anton Alikhanov said on Telegram. However, he did not specify what the cargo was. Photos released by the Russian official show a container ship called the NEWNEW POLAR BEAR. According to him, the ship left Shanghai via Arkhangelsk (Russia’s Great North), before arriving in Baltiysk, in the Kaliningrad region, a Russian enclave at the gates of the EU.
Competition at the Suez Canal
Transport companies plan to ensure that this route, also called the Northeast Passage, can be used permanently: “it will be cheaper and faster than via the Suez Canal,” he said. . Moscow hopes that this Arctic route, made more passable thanks to global warming and melting ice, will be able in the future to compete with the Suez Canal for trade in hydrocarbons in particular.
For years, Russia has been building port infrastructure, liquefied natural gas facilities and icebreakers. But navigating the extreme conditions of the Arctic remains a major challenge and this route remains very far from being able to supplant the Suez Canal. Russian ambition to develop trade via this maritime route has further gained importance for the Kremlin with the adoption of numerous sanctions measures because of its assault on Ukraine and which undermine its trade.
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