Singapore Based Container Shipping Line To Use Northern Sea Route To China

The Singapore-based, Hong Kong owned container line, Sea Legend Shipping, is preparing to launch a direct China–Northern Europe container service along the Northern Sea Route, with the service expected to be operational from September. The transit time will be 18 days, while the route through the Cape of Good Hope takes 30 to 50 days.

The Istanbul Bridge container ship, with a capacity of almost 4,900 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), will be involved in the service. The rotation of ports includes Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Gdansk.

Currently, the container ship is operated by Sea Legend’s partner Safetrans Line, specialising in the Russian market. Previously, “Istanbul Bridge” was called “Flying Fish 1”, and made a previous Arctic voyage in 2023.

Transit through the Northern Sea Route is an important step for Sea Legend. The expansion of its activities in the Arctic reflects the deepening of Sino-Russian cooperation and Beijing’s growing interest in developing alternative trade corridors in the face of geopolitical instability.

The September voyage will be Sea Legend’s only Arctic trip, which, according to the carrier, has already been fully booked.

Northern Sea Route shipping is growing, with Russia investing heavily in expanding the route and its infrastructure, aiming for significant cargo volume increases by 2035.