China sets weekly Arctic shipping service to Europe

Russia's state nuclear giant Rosatom, operator of the Northern Sea Route (​NSR) ​via the Arctic, said ‌it had issued permits for seven Chinese transit vessels to sail to Europe via the ​NSR, Reuters reports.

Chinese container company Sea Legend Shipping ​plans to launch the first regular container ⁠service to Europe via the NSR, ​Alexei Likhachev, Rosatom's head, said.

"Unlike previous container ​shipments via the Northern Sea Route, which were largely experimental or one-off in nature, the 2026 ​programme provides for a fully-fledged regular ​service with vessels sailing every week throughout the navigation ‌season." ⁠Likhachev said in a statement.

Moscow has long hoped to turn the NSR into a new Suez Canal, but higher shipping ​costs and ​seasonal ice ⁠have made that difficult to quickly achieve.

Likhachev said the route ​was becoming a transport artery of ​global ⁠significance as the situation in the Persian Gulf deteriorated - a reference to the ⁠Strait ​of Hormuz situation - and as ​logistical and political uncertainty grew.

By Vafa Guliyeva