South Korea sent its first trial container ship through the Arctic on Saturday, as the Middle East war rattles global shipping, while environmental groups warned the route could accelerate polar ice melt.
The Middle East conflict, sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, has roiled global shipping, sending governments and shipping firms scrambling to seek alternative routes. Sailing from Busan New Port, the 2,800-TEU container ship PanStar Acro is to sail to Europe via the Arctic, testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable.
“We would like to inform you that the vessel for the Arctic route trial voyage departed” at 9:30 pm, Seoul’s oceans ministry said in a statement. The ship is headed for Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Gdansk in Poland before returning, with the voyage expected to take about 45 days, according to the ministry.
The voyage follows that of the Chinese container ship Dubai Tower, which left the eastern port city of Ningbo for Europe this month, heading north through the Bering Strait before turning west along Russia’s Arctic coast. The usual maritime route between Asia and Europe runs through the Suez Canal, but travelling through the Arctic can cut the journey by around 7,000 kilometres and about 10 days, according to the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
South Korea’s Vice Oceans Minister Nam Jae-hon said the Arctic route was bound to become an alternative to Middle Eastern shipping lanes as geopolitical risks and technological advances make it increasingly competitive. Marc Lanteigne, a political science professor at the Arctic University of Norway, said the voyage, coming soon after China’s Dubai Tower began its own Arctic journey, showed the Northern Sea Route was becoming normalised as a secondary maritime transit corridor. A successful voyage would demonstrate South Korea’s interest in developing alternative shipping sea lanes, he said, amid concerns Seoul could fall behind as Chinese firms expand regular services through the increasingly viable Arctic route.
Some experts warn South Korean ships using the Arctic route could risk breaching Western sanctions on Russia, currently a key security ally of North Korea, as they would receive Russian navigation and weather services involving payments, albeit small ones. South Korea’s foreign ministry declined to comment on the concerns when asked. The oceans ministry said this week that consultations with key relevant countries and agencies had been completed to implement the administrative procedures necessary for the voyage. Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, said that strictly speaking, US and EU sanctions are not international law, unlike UN sanctions, and that with continued uncertainty in the Middle East, South Korea may have few alternatives if the Arctic route proves economically viable.
Lanteigne said China’s Northern Sea Route ambitions were more politically driven than South Korea’s, with Beijing viewing the polar regions as strategic new frontiers, raising Western security concerns. Meanwhile, environmental groups warned growing traffic along the shorter route could accelerate Arctic sea ice loss already driven by global warming. Major carriers including CMA CGM, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have pledged to avoid Arctic shipping routes.
The Northern Sea Route is believed to be accessible only during the time of year when ice has melted enough to allow transits without icebreakers. South Korean environmental group Paran Ocean Citizen Science Center said in a statement last year that the route has become increasingly viable as the Arctic warms about four times faster than the global average, leading to a sharp decline in sea ice, but that making the route commercially viable would require further warming, putting the policy at odds with efforts to combat climate change.
