In a further sign of the dramatic climatic changes occurring in the Arctic, two major container ships for the first time passed each other just 750 nautical miles from the North Pole. Both vessels are connecting Chinese ports to Russia’s Saint Petersburg.
The encounter played out on Wednesday night at almost 80 degrees northern latitude east of the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya with the two vessels passing in opposite directions just a few nautical miles from each other.
Flying Fish 1, the first-ever Panamax container ship to venture into the Arctic, is traveling from Saint Petersburg in the Baltic Sea to Qingdao in northeastern China. Carrying close to 5,000 containers across a length of 294 meters it sets a new record for largest box ship to travel across Russia’s Northern Sea Route.
This summer is turning out to be a breakout moment for container shipping on the route. Just a week earlier Flying Fish 1’s counterpart, NewNew Star, had itself become the largest container ship in the Arctic, only to be surpassed by Flying Fish 1 days later.
NewNew Star is transporting up to 3,534 TEU from Nansha, China to Saint Petersburg.
