A new shipping route between the Chinese port of Ningbo-Zhoushan and Felixstowe in the United Kingdom launches this week, with claims it could cut the 40-day journey in half.
The weekly route between the export hub in Ningbo — the world's busiest port by cargo tonnage — and Felixstowe, which is the UK's largest container port, will be operated by the Chinese container shipping company Sea Legend, with ships passing through the Arctic via a course known as the Northern Sea Route along Russia's northern coast.
Sea Legend, which is known for connecting China with markets in Turkiye and North Africa, described the route as the "Ice Silk Road", in a nod to the trading route that famously connected China with Europe in antiquity.
The Northern Sea Route saw 15 such voyages in 2024 and 23 last year and is being seen as an increasingly viable option because of rising global seawater temperatures and reduced ice volumes, The Financial Times newspaper reported.
University of Southampton researchers said recently they recorded the largest drop in Arctic sea ice volumes on record during the peak winter period between 2024 and 2025, with the levels down by 5.8 percent.
