NewNew Shipping launches Arctic Express rail-sea route

Rail and sea connections through Arkhangelsk

NewNew Shipping Line has launched Arctic Express No. 1, connecting Chinese ports with Arkhangelsk via the Northern Sea Route. The service combines maritime transport with railway connections to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The corridor brings together these transport legs:

• 1,200 kilometres by railway;
• 6,600 nautical miles by sea;
• connections with Shanghai and Ningbo.

Seasonal transport plans

The departure ceremony took place at the Bely Rast transport and logistics centre in the Moscow region on July 5, 2024. The projected transit time is 20–25 days.

The Arkhangelsk regional authorities plan shipments exceeding 20,000 TEU along the corridor in 2024. Ten to twelve voyages are planned for the summer and autumn navigation season. In 2023, a vessel carrying more than 300 containers of lumber made the first Arkhangelsk–China voyage in ten years.

Shipbuilding cooperation agreed in June

Hainan Yangpu NewNew Shipping Co. Ltd and a Rosatom enterprise signed an agreement of intent on June 6, 2024, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The proposed cooperation covers a year-round container line between Russian and Chinese ports using the Northern Sea Route.

Vladimir Panov, Rosatom's Special Representative for Arctic Development, and Fan Yuxin, chairman of Hainan Yangpu NewNew Shipping Co. Ltd, signed the document. Its provisions envisage a joint venture to design and construct high-ice-class container ships and jointly operate the Arctic container line.

Fleet development objectives

Panov identified the construction of up to five Arctic-class vessels as a principal objective for enabling year-round operations. Fan Yuxin expressed NewNew Shipping's intention to expand investment in container ships capable of operating throughout the year. The June agreement sets out these development plans.

NewNew Shipping made seven voyages through the Northern Sea Route in 2023, Panov stated in June. Rosatom has held the authority of the route's infrastructure operator since 2018. In December 2019, the Russian government approved Rosatom's plan for development of the Northern Sea Route's infrastructure through 2035.