First Container Terminal (FCT) in the Big Port of St. Petersburg, part of Russian container terminal operator Global Ports, handled the first container ship of the international shipping line Hainan Yangpu NewNew Shipping Co, which will pass through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to China.
More specifically, NewNew Polar Bear is a reinforced ice-class container vessel with a capacity of 1,600 TEUs which was handled by FCT on 6-7 July.
The Chinese line Hainan Yangpu NewNew Shipping Co in partnership with its cargo agent Torgmoll and Global Ports Group has performed direct regular container transportation between Russian Baltic basin and PRC ports since March 2023. Previously, shipments within the service were only made through the Suez Canal.
On board are export goods of Russian manufacturers, mainly of wood processing enterprises from the North-Western region. The boxship will pass through the Arctic basin. The estimated transit time is 28 days depending on ice conditions, translating to one and a half times faster than the route through the Suez Canal, which takes 45-50 days.
In China, the vessel will call at Qingdao and Tianjin ports, and the final destination point will be Shanghai.
In the 2023 navigation season, the shipping line plans to use four vessels on the Northern Sea Route to operate between ports of China and Russia’s ports of St. Petersburg (FCT terminal) and Kaliningrad.
Container ships’ capacity will vary from 1,600 to 3,500 TEUs, while another 1,600 TEU vessel will operate between China and the port of Arkhangelsk in Russia, also via the Northern Sea Route.
