BUSAN — South Korea’s first government-led Arctic shipping trial has shown the potential to cut the distance to Europe by about 35 percent and the transit time by roughly 10 days compared with the Suez Canal route, but participants said ice, severe weather and operational challenges remain obstacles to commercial service.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries shared the findings Thursday at a briefing in Busan with participants in the voyage, which ended Oct. 11 when the container ship Panstar Acro returned to Busan.
The vessel departed Aug. 22, sailed through the Arctic to Europe and returned along the same corridor. The round trip took 49 days and 10 hours, including calls at Felixstowe, England; Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Gdansk, Poland.
The ministry said the ship completed both Arctic passages without icebreaker assistance. Sailing time was approximately 20.2 days from Busan to Felixstowe and 21.9 days from Gdansk to Busan.
The 2,758-TEU vessel carried 737 TEUs of export cargo toward Europe, including chemicals, used cars, auto parts and cosmetics. Its return shipment consisted of 1,743 TEUs of empty containers being repositioned. A TEU is a unit of measure equivalent to the volume of one 20-foot (6.1-meter) shipping container.
Participants described encounters with drifting ice as among the voyage’s most difficult moments.
Park Ji-jeong, a Panstar manager who spent the voyage aboard, said ice blocked the route near the Bering Sea as darkness reduced visibility. The crew judged navigation by radar alone too risky and waited until daylight before proceeding slowly through an opening.
The ship also diverted around large ice floes near the Vilkitsky Strait in the Russian high Arctic.
Cold conditions triggered warning signs in fuel and lubricating oil circulation systems, participants said, requiring heaters and additional insulation. They said the experience underscored the need for vessels and equipment suited to polar operations.
Rapid time changes disrupted sleep during the return voyage, while rough seas in the North Pacific caused prolonged rolling. The ship also took a detour inside the Kuril Islands in the Russian Far East to avoid a northward-moving typhoon.
Despite those difficulties, participants said the voyage provided valuable experience in ice navigation, communications, ice-chart interpretation and polar weather assessment.
The possibility of commercial service remains under review.
Kim Jeong-dal, a Panstar director, said the trial prioritized carrying out a national project over profitability, but that reliable schedules could make future services commercially viable.
He said fuel savings were limited because the vessel used relatively expensive marine gas oil to comply with Arctic environmental requirements.
The ministry plans to analyze and share voyage data, support operators acquiring ice-strengthened ships and continue developing icebreaking container ship technology. It will also consider further trials involving different vessels, routes and cargoes.
An economic assessment is scheduled to be released at a separate briefing in November.
shinyb@heraldcorp.com