Safetrans Line-owned Panamax vessel Flying Fish 1 is set to become the largest container ship to traverse the Baltic-China Northern Sea Route (NSR), when the 4,890 TEU ship arrives in China at the end of the month.
The ship beats the previous record set by Yangpu Newnew Shipping’s 3,534 TEU NewNew Star earlier this month. Safetrans received approval to operate Baltic-NSR services early this year. Both Yangpu Newnew and Safetrans are opportunistic Chinese liner operators that started business with Russia-focused services when mainline operators mostly abandoned Russian calls following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Another of Safetrans’ vessels, the 4,252 TEU SFT Turkey, is also permitted to make NSR crossings. SGT Turkey is now off Russia’s Severny Island, having departed from St Petersburg on 3 September. It is expected to arrive in northeast China in just over two weeks’ time, which would represent a saving of around 10 days, or 2,800 nautical miles, versus the traditional route via the Suez Canal.
The permit for the SFT Turkey allows the ship to make one round voyage between China and the Baltic between August and October. The ship is deployed in a joint service of Safetrans, OVP Shipping and Transfar Shipping.
Yangpu NewNew was the first to start a regular service through the NSR and is looking to establish a regular summer service between China and Arkhangelsk and St Petersburg. The company had previously used smaller ice-class ships on the route.