China opens new Arctic trade route – but obstacles will prevent its wider use

A cargo ship at the Anadyr Sea Port in north-eastern Russia. Andrei Stepanov / Shutterstock Sea Legend, a Chinese shipping line, recently announced it was launching a regular container service between China and Europe via the Arctic. The announcement follows a trial crossing in 2025 that saw a container ship travel from the port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in eastern China to Felixstowe in the UK in 20 days. This will not have gone unnoticed in the west. While the Iran war has not halted shipping…