(Written by the Observer Network Column Author)
On September 22nd, the "Istanbul Bridge" ship completed the container loading operation of more than 1,000 TEUs in Beilun Port Area of Zhoushan Port, Ningbo, and set off at around 4:30 a.m. the next day for Flixto Port, the largest container port in the UK.
Different from previous China-Europe routes, the "Istanbul Bridge" ship will take the Arctic Northeast Passage directly to Europe, and the one-way transportation time to Flixto Port will only take 18 days. This is the first time Ningbo Zhoushan Port will open to Wilhelmshaven, Germany at the end of 2024. After 26 days of "China-Europe Express", a new record for China-Europe Express timeliness was once again set.
More importantly, this marks the launch of the world’s first Central European Arctic container expedition.
Did Poland do it on purpose?
I believe many friends have already known that the same time window opened on the Arctic route was Poland because of the announcement of Russian-Belarusian military exercises to interrupt the Polish-Belarusian border, thereby leading to a substantial interruption of the Central European line.
According to the relevant notification issued by the Central European Panel, as Russia and Belarus launched the joint military exercises “Zapad/West 2025” in September, the military tension on the border with Belarus escalated, the Polish government announced the temporary closure of the railway ports bordering Belarus from September 11, leading to the actual interruption of the Central European Panel from Belarus to Poland.
Based on the information of all parties, the timeline of key events is as follows:
September 9, 2025 (day): Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the closure of the border from late at night on September 11, for national security reasons, due to the "offensive" nature of the Russian-Belarus joint military exercises.
From September 9 (night) to the early morning of September 10, 2025: A large number of drones entered Polish airspace, and the Polish air defense system activated to respond.
September 10, 2025: Poland holds consultations with NATO on the drone entry incident.
September 11, 2025: Polish Deputy Defence Minister Tomczyk announced the deployment of about 40,000 troops on the border with Belarus; Germany and France announced the deployment of fighter jets to assist in patrol alert.
September 12, 2025: The Russia-Belarus "West-2025" joint military exercise begins as planned; The section of China-Europe train from Belarus to Poland is closed according to the schedule announced by Poland.
September 16, 2025: Joint Russian-Belarus military exercises end.
September 23, 2025: The container cargo ship "Istanbul Bridge" departs from Ningbo and is expected to arrive in the UK in 18 days.
It should be noted that the "Zapad/West 2025" military exercise between Russia and Belarus is a routine exercise held every two years. The preparations for it have already started, and military officers from some European and American countries have been invited to observe.
In summary, we can see that Poland’s decision to shut down the Central European line is not a temporary stress response, but a planned response. As of September 2025, the Russian-Ukrainian war has been going on for more than three years, during which time, no interruption in the Central European line, regardless of how the Ukrainian situation changes. In the context of NATO’s intensive deployment of reconnaissance equipment and the high alert of the military, Poland’s decision appears to be overreacting and can not rule out the possibility of subjective intention.
So when Poland announced it would reopen its border ports with Belarus at midnight on September 24, everything became even more intriguing.
The actual impact is not significant, but the warning is enough
In order to evaluate the actual impact of this move by Poland, it is necessary to first understand the route pattern of the China-European line. The relevant situation of the China-European line has been explained in detail in the article “Russian Customs “arrest” of the European line of goods? After investigation found someone in “doing bad”... Here is a simple introduction: the traditional Central European line mainly has two northern lines and the middle line two northern lines from the port of the Chinese city, through the Manchuria, Dnipropetrovsk, Moscow to Belarus Minsk; the middle line through Urumqi, from the Mountains of Alaska and Holgos, through Kazakhstan, Russia to Minsk.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, in order to avoid Russia, the European-American countries opened the Southern Canal as an alternative route, that is, from the mountains of Al-Ara to the port of Akhva in Kazakhstan, shipping through the Caspian Sea to Baku in Azerbaijan, and then through Georgia, Turkey and the Balkans to Europe. This route travels through many countries, while timely and economically less than the original line, but can be used as a backup, mainly for the transport of certain goods restricted by both sides.
The black northern line and the red middle line are the original Central European line, and the green southern line is the southern channel.
Therefore, Poland closed the original North and Central lines of the Central European Ferries, and the South Canal as a backup. The solution provided by the China European Ferries related companies in the notification is also "temporary adjustment of the undelivered ferries to switch to the nearest Ferries to the South Canal products or other lines at the fastest speed." Rail freight between Central Europe will not be interrupted, only the cost will rise. In the future, if the Zhejiang Railway runs and accesses the existing Central Asian railways, it will provide more alternatives for the railway between China and Europe and save costs.
In addition, influenced by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the composition of China-European ferries has changed, the share between China and Europe has decreased, and the share of cargo between China and Russia has increased. The closure of the border with Belarus does not affect the route from China to Moscow, this time Poland closed the Polish and Belarusian sections, but the China-Russia Moscow sections are not affected, and the current China-European ferries will essentially turn into the Chinese-Russian sections.
The Efficiency of China
The Arctic route that sailed this time provides another option to deal with the interruption of China-Europe trains. However, it is essentially a different logistics product from China-Europe train.
The Central European line is a "five-determined" line of fixed points, fixed lines, fixed times, fixed prices, similar to a bus line, regardless of the spring and summer and autumn winter, always according to the established timetable.
The Arctic route is climate-restricted, with a flight window period only around April to November each year, and the flight capacity depends on the ice conditions (Ice conditions are 36 levels, some levels require ice breaking ships to launch and pay fees).
In addition, in terms of volume, the ship has a clear advantage: in the news there is no mention of the load of the "Istanbul Bridge", only mention of the number of completed 1000 markboxes, whether it is a dry line ship with more than 20,000 markboxes on the Asia-European route, or for Ningbo Harbour with an annual volume of more than 40 million markboxes, it is a countless amount.
At present, Shanghai or Ningbo to the UK Felixstone shipping a 40-foot container costs approximately $ 1,700, traveling in China and Europe is estimated to be more than $ 6,000, and to the UK container should first be unloaded in the German Duisburg and other European mainland railway station, and then through the submarine tunnel to the UK, the overall cost is higher.
I don’t know how much the shipping charges for this Arctic route are priced, but the Arctic route has sufficient profit space compared to the time-effective Central European ferry price. If other shipping companies use larger ships to follow the Arctic route, the huge price gap will lead to the shipping of some of the cargo to Europe from Central Europe to the Arctic route. The output can be allocated to the vast inland area along the Belt and Road route. But Poland’s Marashevich, which has already become the center of transit in Central Europe, will face further huge cargo losses.
It can be said that Poland's interruption of the Central European line is its own undermining the central competitive advantage of the Central European line in the face of the Arctic route - stability.
There is an error in the picture used by WeChat WeChat official account "Ningbo Publishing". The time from Ningbo to Felixto, England to take the Cape of Good Hope route is 38 days instead of 50 + days. Probably to exaggerate the advantages of the Arctic route
CEM and NE1 routes for medium and long-distance shipping
More importantly, we saw through this thing the efficiency of emergency response of Chinese ship companies. According to the conventional operation, container ships usually use weekly operating mode, the standard preparation cycle of the ship before departure is about 7 days, and a series of processes such as cabin ordering, disembarkation, airboxing, loading, port entry, customs clearance must be completed.
SEA LEGEND SHIPPING PTE. LTD, a Chinese shipping company registered in Singapore, headquartered in Shanghai, focuses on providing differentiated, tailored and flexible logistics solutions for segment markets.
If the flight was not accidentally arranged, then the Central European flight was actually interrupted on 12 September until the official opening on 23 September, with only 11 days of preparation time. The Hajj shipping company was able to complete the route advertising, organize a thousand package cargo and efficiently execute all operational processes in such a short time, demonstrating excellent organizational coordination ability.
This highly efficient operation, thanks to the advanced and stable port service support of Ningbo Port, also reflects China's forward-looking layout in the construction of international logistics channels.
China's exploration began in 2013, when the "Yongsheng" ship of COSCO Shipping Special Shipping Company successfully made its maiden voyage through the Arctic Northeast Passage and arrived in Europe. Since then, from 2015 to 2018, the company has continuously sent several ships for commercial trials, becoming the icebreaker of the Arctic route, verifying the feasibility, safety and timeliness of the Arctic route. In recent years, the conflicts between COVID-19 pandemic and Russia and Ukraine have led to fluctuations in shipping prices. Haijie Shipping's maiden voyage seized the market opportunity on the basis of its predecessors.
The process of opening up the Arctic route reflects an effective mode for Chinese enterprises to open up the market: first, powerful central enterprises undertake the important task of early exploration, and conduct feasibility verification that may not have direct profits for the time being; Subsequently, more flexible private enterprises or joint ventures followed suit and took advantage of market opportunities to carry out commercial operations. This model of "developing central enterprises-invigorating private enterprises" enables China to calmly deal with unexpected situations such as the temporary interruption of China-Europe trains.
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