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Challenge the Suez Canal! Sino-Russian Arctic Trade Sprint $200 billion!
Oct 12,2023
After years of preparation and preparation, in July this year, the Sino-Russian Arctic route container liner was officially launched. The first cargo ship set sail from the first container terminal in St. Petersburg Port. It will take more than 20 days to cross the Arctic route and arrive at Shanghai Port.
According to the analysis of Russian experts, the future maritime transport between China and Russia still has great potential for development, and the opening of new routes is beneficial to both Russia and China.
Compared with the previous routes, the Arctic route is less expensive and avoids the interference of geopolitical factors on shipping to a certain extent.
Challenge the Suez Canal
Driven by global warming and melting ice caps, this Arctic route provides more convenience. According to Moscow, it hopes that this Arctic corridor, especially the hydrocarbon trade corridor, can challenge the dominance of the Suez Canal in the future.
Some people said that once the route is fully operational, the Arctic route will promote trade between Asia and Europe, 40% faster than the Suez Canal route and 60% faster than the Cape of Good Hope route.
In the past, the shipping routes between Asia and Europe had to pass through the Cape of Good Hope, and it took a walk around South Africa to reach Europe. The whole journey was 15000 nautical miles, which greatly increased the cost of navigation between Asia and Europe, and also increased the maritime Silk Road. The difficulty of development.
Even after the Suez Canal was opened in 1869, the Asia-Europe route was only shortened to 12000 nautical miles. It would take about 37 days for European container ships to reach the east coast of China at full horsepower, and it would cost about 500000 US dollars to pass through the Suez Canal. Toll.
In contrast, the Arctic route can be along the Arctic Ocean and the northern coast of Eurasia, through the Bering Strait and then directly to the Pacific Ocean, continue south to reach the east coast of China,The whole journey only takes more than 6000 nautical miles, which is half as short as the Suez Canal route, and it only takes about half a month to reach the destination.
This route has not been started for a long time, because the Arctic ice is too thick, poor weather conditions and other factors. Even if there is an icebreaker, it takes time and economic cost to break the ice, and there are high ice resistance requirements for transport ships.
Rapid growth of Sino-Russian trade
A few days ago, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs of China, in the first seven months of 2023, the trade volume between Russia and China increased by 36.5 compared with the same period in 2022, exceeding US $134.1 billion.
According to the analysis of industry professionals: from the trade data in recent years, China and the EU account for roughly the same proportion of trade with Russia. According to preliminary calculations, China's import share in Russia is about 30%, and this figure is still increasing,It can be said that China has an absolute advantage in Russia's foreign trade.
In terms of import and export goods, China's import demand for Russian agricultural products, seafood, timber, and fertilizers is expanding. Russia is further expanding its imports of mechanical and electrical equipment, consumer goods and electronic products from China.
Earlier, Russian Presidential Assistant Igor Levitin stated that the upper limit of the Siberian Railway transportation volume is about 0.22 billion tons, and the recent cargo has reached 80 million tons. The Arctic route will become a new transportation "artery".
Arctic route port facilities still need to be improved
As we all know, container liner transportation emphasizes that the ship's frequency must be fixed, arrive on time and leave on time. As the main form of transportation in the maritime industry, container liners are transported along fixed routes and through fixed ports,The so-called "four fixed"(fixed route, shipping schedule, port, freight).
However, it is worth noting that most of the ports along the Arctic route lack hinterland support, and it is difficult to form a real liner transport with multiple ports.
It is understood that the container ship of this maiden voyage started from the port of St. Petersburg and sailed westward. After passing through the Baltic Sea, it entered the substantial Northeast Arctic route.
After entering the northeast route of the Arctic, it did not call the ports along the route, but passed through the northeast route of the Arctic, and then passed through the Bering Strait to directly reach the port of Shanghai.
From this point of view, the launching ceremony is indeed an important milestone, but it may be more symbolic and should not be regarded as a thorough container liner transportation on the Arctic route.
Although there are still many challenges in the development of container liner transportation on the Arctic route, there are still bright prospects for development. In the context of Russia's comprehensive promotion of the Arctic development strategy and accelerating the eastward shift of foreign exports, the role of the Arctic route has become more prominent.
The Russian representative of Xinxin Shipping, Ke Jin, said that in order to realize the weekly operation of container ships on the Sino-Russian Arctic route, Xinxin Shipping has put into operation five high-ice container ships. It is expected that the route will be able to run from July to the end of October, weather and other conditions permitting.
"We are confident to build the container liner transportation route of the Arctic route into a boutique route between China and Russia, and contribute to the joint construction of the'Ice Silk Road' between the two countries." Ke Jin said.
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