China-Europe Arctic Express Makes Maiden Call at Guangzhou Nansha, Reaching Europe in 28 Days

en.Wedoany.com Reported - At 15:00 on August 19, the "Leyard Mukabu" vessel of the China-Europe Arctic Express successfully berthed at Nansha Phase I Terminal of Guangzhou Port, marking the first call at Guangzhou Nansha since the route launched regular weekly operations nationwide. The "Ice Silk Road" thus adds a new northbound logistics corridor directly to Europe for foreign trade enterprises in Guangzhou and the Greater Bay Area.

This maiden voyage at Nansha is an important extension of Haijie Shipping's CAX2026 China-Europe Arctic Express regular operations. In 2025, the route completed a single Arctic transit trial voyage, verifying the navigability of the sea route, with Ningbo Zhoushan Port as the sole departure port and no coverage of Pearl River Delta ports. In 2026, the route was upgraded to fixed weekly operations, expanding the domestic multi-port cargo consolidation network, with Guangzhou Nansha officially incorporated into the core cargo consolidation port matrix. Local high-value-added cargo such as new energy vehicles, auto parts, high-end manufacturing, and cross-border e-commerce goods can now be directly consolidated and shipped from Nansha, reaching core European markets via the Arctic Northeast Passage.

The China-Europe Arctic Express offers significant advantages in transit time over traditional maritime routes. Cargo departing from Nansha Port to the Port of Felixstowe in the UK takes only 28 days in total, cutting 14 days of shipping time compared with the Cape of Good Hope route. The naturally low-temperature environment of the Arctic route is well suited to the transport of high-end goods with strict temperature control requirements and susceptibility to damage, reducing cargo loss rates during transit, and meeting the logistics needs of the Greater Bay Area's advantageous export industries such as new energy equipment, energy storage products, auto parts, and precision manufacturing.

According to Haijie Shipping's operational plan, the first round of the 2026 CAX China-Europe Arctic Express regular weekly operations will deploy 8 stable voyages consecutively, with the operating period running from mid-August to early October. The route uses Ningbo Zhoushan Port as its core hub, integrating cargo from multiple domestic coastal ports including Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, and Nansha. Upon arrival at the Port of Felixstowe in the UK, cargo can connect to more than ten major European ports including Le Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Hamburg, building a logistics network covering both ends of China and Europe with coordinated trunk and feeder services. Following this maiden voyage, multiple specialized container vessels will be successively deployed to the route to ensure stable sailing schedules and sufficient capacity.

As the global international trade logistics landscape continues to shift, risks of congestion on traditional corridors and volatility in transit costs have become increasingly prominent, while market demand for diversified, highly time-efficient, and highly stable cross-border logistics corridors continues to rise. With the regular operation of the China-Europe Arctic Express, a new main trade corridor between China and Europe has been added alongside the traditional Suez maritime route and the China-Europe Railway Express, further enhancing the internationalized and diversified maritime network of Guangzhou Port.