MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company released a statement September 29, reaffirming its commitment to avoid the Northern Sea Route from Asia to Europe.
This reiterates the strategy of most of the major European carriers in contrast to Sea Legend Shipping, a Chinese carrier, which has launched the China-Europe Arctic Express (CAX) service. Backed by Safetrans Shipping and Haijie Shipping, the service currently deploys a single 4,900 TEU vessel, according to Breakbulk News.
MSC, the world’s largest container shipping line gave a number of reasons, including that safe navigation and transit for commercial vessels are not assured. Additionally, the company said, an increase in Arctic transit traffic may also impact the fragile ecosystem of the region and the ice caps.
More ships transiting the Northern Sea Route could also affect remote Arctic communities by congesting existing shipping lanes and slowing down necessary traffic, which is an essential lifeline for their survival and prosperity, MSC warned.
“Furthermore, there is no operational reason for our fleet and standalone network to transit the Arctic, as we have the capacity and means to safely and reliably transport customer cargo globally without using the Northern Sea Route,” the statement concluded.
Although a Northern Sea Route, skirting the top of Russia, could cut two weeks off a typical Shanghai-Europe shipping voyage, and avoid the current dangers of routing through the Suez Canal, where commercial shipping is under attack from Yemeni Houthi rebels, the geopolitical implications are unattractive.
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Russia-backed proponents see the route as a way to not only control or benefit from global ocean-going freight trade, but also to exploit the natural resources being made available because of global warming.
