The route, Chinese state-run media outlet the Global Times reported, links ports including Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao and Dalian with European hubs such as Rotterdam in the Netherlands; Hamburg in Germany, and Gdańsk in Poland.
The route offers a faster alternative to the Suez Canal and Cape of Good Hope routes, which take about 40 and 50 days respectively, and competes with overland rail averaging 25 days. Climate change has melted sea ice along the Northeast Passage, the route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Russia, facilitating shipping through waters once blocked year-round.
