Infographic: Black Carbon Emissions from Arctic Shipping Between 2019 and 2024. Image Credit: Clean Arctic Alliance

• Campaign group reacts as boxship Dubai Tower departs Ningbo for Northern Sea Route crossing
• Group warns black carbon emissions speed Arctic sea ice melt
• Says HFO ban and new ECA will not adequately cut black carbon
• Backs IMO polar fuels proposal requiring distillates such as MGO

Climate campaign coalition the Clean Arctic Alliance has warned over growing commercial interest in the Northern Sea Route for Asia-Europe container services.

The group was responding to reports that the Liberian-flagged container ship Dubai Tower, operated by Chinese firm Sea Legend, has departed Ningbo to cross the route, and is expected at Felixstowe on September 7 before calls at Hamburg and Gdynia.

South Korea's PanStar has also bought a ship for an imminent Arctic crossing, the group noted.

For operators, the attraction is a route several thousand miles shorter than via the Suez Canal, cutting voyage times and total fuel consumption, at a time when Red Sea diversions have lengthened conventional routings.

"The Clean Arctic Alliance is seriously concerned about the interest in the Northern Sea Route as a regular trade route and the consequences for the Arctic, Indigenous communities and wildlife," said the group's lead advisor Dr Sian Prior in an emailed statement.

"Increased commercial shipping activity will lead to increased climate impacts, increased pollution and increased loss of biodiversity."

Black carbon from ships burning conventional fuels accelerates the loss of sea ice when it settles out of the atmosphere, Prior argues, with Arctic sea ice extent currently the eighth lowest on record by the group's account.

The group says recent IMO measures, including the Arctic HFO ban in force since 2022 and the Northeast Atlantic Emission Control Area adopted in May, will not adequately address black carbon, as ships can still burn HFO with scrubbers, or ultra-low sulphur fuel oils, outside the banned area.

It is urging states to back a polar fuels proposal at the IMO, co-sponsored by Denmark, Germany, France, and the Solomon Islands, which would require ships in Arctic waters to use cleaner distillates such as MGO or zero-carbon fuels with lower black carbon emissions.

The alliance also argues LNG is unsuitable as an alternative for Arctic operations, on the grounds of what it says are the methane emissions associated with the fuel's life cycle.

The coalition is made up of 24 campaign groups, including Greenpeace, WWF, and Transport & Environment.