September 14, 2025: The Northern Sea Route is definitely open for business—and warfare. On August 18, a Chinese Panamax containership left the Russian port of St. Petersburg and entered the Baltic. But once in the Atlantic, instead of turning south and sailing to China via the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, the Cape of Good Hope, or Cape Horn, the vessel turned north. The ship, the Istanbul Bridge, took what is sometimes called Russia’s Northern Sea Route, a shortcut from Western Europe to East Asia.

The ship’s travel time from Norway to the Bering Strait was just over six days. The trip took place from mid-August to mid-September, before the ice returns. According to MyShipTracking.com, the ship reached the Chinese port of Qingdao on September 11. That’s 24 days in transit. In comparison, the Suez Canal route can take 40 to 50 days.

The Istanbul Bridge can sustain a speed of 18 knots. Despite occasional sea ice, during its Northern Sea Route transit, it averaged 12 to 14 knots per hour.

A Chinese shipping company intends to regularly connect the Chinese ports of Qingdao, Shanghai, and Ningbo-Zhoushan with key Western European ports, Rotterdam among them. Presumably, the freighters will be “ice-class” rated ships.

There are various ice-class ratings, some determined by maritime insurers (like Lloyd’s). Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules are a highly regarded standard. A higher-rated ice-class ship will have a reinforced hull (to prevent ice damage), an icebreaking bow (to cut through ice), increased engine power (to break ice or quickly avoid it), and an “ice-proven hull form.” In other words, the freighter has several icebreaker characteristics.

Meanwhile, over in Alaskan waters, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy was shadowing two Chinese research ships. One was observed 230 miles north of Utqiaġvik, Alaska. Utqiaġvik, formerly called Barrow, is on Alaska’s North Slope (Chukchi Sea coast) and is the northernmost town. The second ship was spotted 265 miles northwest of Utqiaġvik. A Coast Guard HC-130J aircraft supported the Healy. The Coast Guard issued a statement saying that the Healy and the aircraft were “controlling, securing, and defending the northern U.S. border and maritime approaches in the Arctic to protect U.S. sovereignty.” Moreover, the Healy’s operations demonstrated “the critical need for more Coast Guard icebreakers” to fulfill the security mission.

The U.S. Coast Guard has three icebreakers—that’s it. The Healy, the newly acquired Storis, and the Polar Star. The Polar Star supports American operations in Antarctica. The current administration wants more and is considering having Finland build some icebreakers. In April 2025, Congress considered special supplemental funding for the Coast Guard that might add money for 25 to 30 new Arctic Security Cutters and icebreakers. The Arctic Security Cutter is a new class of medium icebreaker. In 2019, the Coast Guard awarded a contract to build a new heavy Polar Security icebreaker, a new-model Polar Star.

China is exploiting the Northern Sea Route to gain an economic advantage—completely legal. But since 2018, communist China has referred to itself as a “near-Arctic nation.” That’s a diplomatic designation Beijing invented to push for a greater role in Arctic governance and perhaps claim mineral rights in the Arctic. 2018 is about the same time Beijing started touting a Polar Silk Road, connecting China by sea to Northern Europe.

The stage is already set for a confrontation with a real Arctic nation, Russia. Now China is, so to speak, testing the waters. (AB)