A Chinese shipping company has inaugurated the first regular shipping route between China and Europe through the Arctic, marking a milestone in international shipping. The route avoids the Suez and Panama Canals, sailing through the Bering Strait and the northern coasts of Russia, reducing shipping times from 30 to 18 days, almost in half.

Haijie Shipping's Istanbul Bridge made its maiden voyage in September from Ningbo-Zhoushan, China, to Gdansk, Poland, with stops in Shanghai, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, and Hamburg. For now, the service will be seasonal, pending expansion into winter and spring operations using ice-adapted container ships.

The new "Polar Silk Road" is part of China's strategy to expand its commercial and geopolitical influence, offering a faster and safer route than other routes exposed to conflict or piracy.

Photo: ian-simmonds-XrDbdmqsPdk-unsplash

Climate change and the melting of the Arctic have made this type of navigation possible: sea ice is shrinking by 12% per decade, and the region is now navigable for about ten months a year. However, this opening also poses environmental and climatic risks, as the melting ice alters the ocean currents that regulate the global climate.

Other powers, such as the United States, Russia, South Korea, and Denmark, are also vying for control of the Arctic, a strategic region rich in resources and emerging routes, heralding a new phase of economic and geopolitical dispute over the "north of the north."