South Korea was set Saturday to send its first trial container through the Arctic, as the Middle East war rattles global shipping, while environmental groups warned the route could accelerate polar ice melt.

The Middle East conflict, sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, has roiled global shipping, sending governments and shipping firms scrambling to seek alternative routes.

Sailing from Busan New Port, the container ship – the “PanStar Acro” – will sail to Europe via the Arctic, testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable.

“The ship will depart at 8pm (1100 GMT) today unless there are unforeseen circumstances, such as bad weather,” an oceans ministry official told AFP on Saturday.

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The ship will leave for Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Gdansk in Poland before returning, with the voyage expected to take about 45 days, according to the ministry.

The voyage follows that of the Chinese container ship “Dubai Tower”, which left the eastern port city of Ningbo for Europe this month, heading north through the Bering Strait before turning west along Russia’s Arctic coast.

The usual maritime route between Asia and Europe runs through the Suez Canal, but travelling through the Arctic can cut the journey by around 7,000 kilometres (4,300 miles) and about 10 days, according to the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

South Korea’s Vice Oceans Minister Nam Jae-hon said the Arctic route was “bound to become an alternative” to Middle Eastern shipping lanes – as geopolitical risks and technological advances make it increasingly competitive.

Marc Lanteigne, a political science professor at the Arctic University of Norway, said the voyage – coming soon after China‘s “Dubai Tower” began its own Arctic journey – showed the Northern Sea Route (NSR) was becoming normalised as a “secondary maritime transit corridor”.

A successful voyage would demonstrate South Korea’s interest in “developing alternative shipping sea lanes”, he told AFP, with concerns that it could fall behind as Chinese firms expand regular services through the increasingly viable Arctic route.

Russia issue

Some experts warn South Korean ships using the Arctic route could risk breaching Western sanctions on Russia – currently a key security ally of North Korea – as they would receive Russian navigation and weather services involving payments, albeit small ones.

South Korea’s foreign ministry declined to comment when asked by AFP about the concerns involving Russia.

The oceans ministry said this week that “consultations with key relevant countries and agencies” have been completed to “implement administrative procedures necessary” for the voyage.

Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, said “strictly speaking, US and EU sanctions are not international law, unlike UN sanctions”.

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“And with continued uncertainty in the Middle East – itself driven in part by US actions – South Korea may have few alternatives if the Arctic route proves economically viable,” he told AFP.

Lanteigne said China‘s Northern Sea Route ambitions were more politically driven than South Korea’s, with Beijing viewing the polar regions as “strategic new frontiers”, raising Western security concerns.

Meanwhile, environmental groups warned growing traffic along the shorter NSR could accelerate Arctic sea ice loss already driven by global warming.

Major carriers including CMA CGM, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have pledged to avoid Arctic shipping routes.

The NSR is believed to be accessible only during the time of year when the ice is melted enough to allow transits without icebreakers.

“The Northern Sea Route has become increasingly viable as the Arctic warms about four times faster than the global average, leading to a sharp decline in sea ice,” South Korean environmental group Paran Ocean Citizen Science Center said in a statement last year.

“But making the route commercially viable would require further warming, putting the policy at odds with efforts to combat climate change.”

Shorter, cheaper, harder   

Houthi rebels in Oman have disrupted traffic through the Bab al-Mandab Strait by attacking vessels heading to and from the Suez Canal.

Many operators now avoid the passage and send ships instead around South Africa‘s Cape of Good Hope, vastly prolonging the journey between Asia and Europe and driving up fuel costs and emissions.

By contrast, the Northern Sea Route could cut the distance by 30 to 40 percent compared to using the Suez Canal, and by nearly half from going around the southern tip of Africa, the credit insurance group Coface said in April.

But what looks good on spreadsheets ignores daunting constraints.

“The Arctic link can only be seasonal, from August to October,” said Paul Tourret, director of the Higher Institute of Maritime Economics (ISEMAR) in Saint-Nazaire, France.

“And you need ice-class ships, which cost more,” he told AFP.

That rules out Supramax and other hulking container ships that make up a major share of global traffic, since they can offer hugely competitive rates.

By contrast, the capacity of the Chinese container ship “Dubai Tower” that embarked on the NSR from Ningbo to Europe this month, is one-tenth the size, said Jerome de Ricqles, a sea freight specialist at Upply, a French-based transport management firm.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)