Asia/Pacific News
NSR Not Yet a Threat to Singapore Maritime Trade
Commercial voyages through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) do not yet pose a significant threat to Singapore's position in the maritime industry, carriers and analysts told the New Strait Times.
Lars Mikael Jensen, head of Asia-Europe trade for Maersk Line, said the industry giant is considering using the NSR but does not expect to shift many vessels from the Suez Canal route.
"The ability to combine loops for large markets like South China and Southeast Asia with Mediterranean cargo is not viable via the Northern Sea route," he said.
Shipping companies said sea levels along the NSR's coast are too shallow for large ships with heavy freight, and ports along the route have limited facilities.
Ships travelling through the arctic route also face the threat of damage from drifting ice blocks, according to Andrew Palmer, who studies the arctic at the National University of Singapore's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
This month, a tanker was damaged by an ice floe after reportedly entering an icy section of the NSR in violation of its permit.
Singapore is developing new facilities, including a "mega-port" in Tuas, with a capacity of up to 65 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEU) per year and the capacity to manage larger and more complex ships, which could help it compete against ports along the NSR and elsewhere.
The use of the NSR has grown at a rapid pace in recent years, and this year a Cosco Shipping vessel became the first merchant vessel to travel the route from China to Europe.
Along with melting ice that makes the NSR more navigable, political threats to the Suez Canal, along with territorial disputes in the South China Sea, could push more ships to consider the alternate route.
