South Korean container ship ends voyage along Northern Sea Route

SEOUL, October 11. /TASS/. South Korea’s container ship PanStar Acro has successfully completed a round-trip voyage along the Northern Sea Route, arriving at the port of Busan on October 11, the Yonhap news agency quoted the Ministry of Maritime and Fisheries as saying.

On August 22, the PanStar Acro set sail from Busan on a voyage along the Northern Sea Route and arrived at the port of Felixstowe in the United Kingdom on September 11; now it has returned to South Korea via the same route. During the voyage, the container ship also visited Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and Gdansk (Poland). The entire round-trip took about 50 days.

This is the first commercial voyage of a container ship operated by a Korean shipping company via the Northern Sea Route. The vessel carried chemical industry products, used cars and spare parts - a total of 737 TEU of cargo, as well as 100 empty containers.

According to Yonhap, the voyage is considered successful, as it passed without serious incidents and almost in line with the schedule. According to the original plans, the ship was supposed to return to Busan six days earlier. An event dedicated to its return is expected on October 13.

The Northern Sea Route is the shortest sea route to Europe from South Korea. The distance from Busan to Rotterdam along it amounts to 13,000 km, which is 35% less than the route through the Suez Canal. Consequently, the Northern Sea Route allows exporters to save up to 10 days. In 2013, shipping company Hyundai Glovis was the first among South Korean firms to traverse this route, but at that time the vessel was carrying naphtha. South Korean shipping companies have not used the Northern Sea Route since 2016.