Chinese container shipping company Sea Legend is launching the first permanent container liner service through the Arctic, a weekly route connecting Ningbo to Felixstowe in the United Kingdom that the company has branded the "Ice Silk Road."
The service, which runs along Russia's northern coastline, cuts transit time roughly in half compared with the conventional 40-day journey between the two ports. The Northern Sea Route is divided into 28 segments managed by Rosatom's Northern Sea Route Administration. The route builds on growing Arctic accessibility: 23 vessels successfully transited the passage in the summer of 2025, and both the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route have been seasonally ice-free since 2007. Maersk sent the first container ship through the Arctic in 2018.
Demand for ice-class tonnage is rising. Maritime data firm Veson Nautical reports 167 ice-class vessels were completed last year, with 164 more expected this year.