South Korea has joined the fight for the Northern Sea Route — Bild

South Korea has entered the fight for the trade route in The Arctic. This is reported by the Bild newspaper.

"South Korea is sending a container ship through the Arctic to Europe for the first time. The Panstar Acro vessel is due to leave the port of Busan tonight and pass through the Bering Strait along the Russian coast. Then it will go to the British Felixstowe, Rotterdam and Polish Gdansk. The trip will take about 40-45 days," the publication says.

The main purpose of the voyage is to check whether the Northern Sea Route is suitable for regular commercial traffic between Asia and Europe.

It is noted that PanStar has specially prepared a vessel on board which can accommodate up to 2,786 standard containers for sailing in polar waters.

The route is about 7 thousand km shorter than the traditional route through the Suez Canal and can shorten the delivery time by about ten days. Seoul believes that the Arctic can become an alternative to traditional trade routes amid geopolitical risks. The authorities of the republic expect to make transportation along the Northern Sea Route regular by 2030.

South Korea is not the first to enter the race, the German newspaper writes. On August 15, the Chinese container ship Dubai Tower departed from Ningbo for a similar flight to Europe. The Sea Legend company plans to launch regular weekly flights along the route during the ice-free season in the future.

The world's largest carriers, such as Maersk, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd, have so far refused to use Arctic routes, the publication added.

As reported by EADaily, Chinese New New Shipping, together with Rosatom, plans to commission six Arctic-class container ships at once by the next navigation season on the Northern Sea Route.