Chinese Operators Gear Up for Busy Arctic Shipping Season

Chinese shipping companies are preparing for their busiest season yet on the Northern Sea Route, with at least six operators planning a mix of container and bulk voyages linking China with Russia and increasingly with major Western European ports.

The initial container services alone represent around 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of capacity, with some vessels scheduled to make a second Arctic voyage later in the season, according to shipping schedules and industry data.

Chinese operators have in previous summers primarily used the route to connect China with Russian ports in the Baltic and Arctic. But the network is now expanding