Ningbo, China – Responding to reports that the Liberian-flagged Istanbul Bridge panamax container vessel has departed the port of Ningbo-Zhoushan, to cross the Arctic’s Northern Sea Route as part of China’s Sea Legend (aka Haijie) shipping company’s “18-Day Arctic Express Containership Route To Europe”, followed by stops in the UK, Netherlands, Germany and Poland, Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance said:
“With the Arctic already under severe stress, warming faster than the global average and acidifying faster than the global average due to global climate change, sending container ships across the Arctic sets off alarm bells. The Clean Arctic Alliance is calling on Sea Legend to make public the choice of fuel being used to cross the Arctic’s Northern Sea route, and whether the Istanbul Bridge is complying with the International Maritime Organization Resolution (MEPC.342(77)) calling on ships to voluntarily reduce black carbon emissions by using distillate or other cleaner alternative fuels or forms of propulsion when operating in or near to the Arctic, and whether it is aligned with the spirit of the IMO’s Arctic heavy fuel oil (HFO) prohibition which commenced in July 2024, but doesn’t take full effect till 2029.”
The 25-year-old, Liberian-flagged Istanbul Bridge, left Ningbo, China, on 23 September 2025, with a capacity for 4,890 containers. It plans to call in Felixstowe, UK, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Hamburg in Germany and Gdansk in Poland.
“Although shipping operators may argue that a shorter route – via the Arctic – will result in lower CO2 emissions, the Arctic has been largely undeveloped in terms of transit shipping, due to the risks posed by sea ice, and the waters are poorly charted”, said Prior. “CO2 reductions will be meaningless if shipping in the Arctic results in higher emissions of super-pollutant black carbon, which has a 1600 times greater climate impact than CO2 on a 20 year basis and a disproportionate impact when emitted near to snow and ice”.
Infographic: How to regulate and control black carbon emissions from shipping
A recent report by NGO Pacific Environment lays out the case for why the International Maritime Organization (IMO) should immediately act on reducing black carbon pollution — a climate super-pollutant. On Thin Ice: Why Black Carbon Demands Urgent Action, explores how the expansion of Arctic shipping is causing an increase in the release of black carbon into the air, which then settles on snow and ice, accelerating dangerous melting.
On Thin Ice: Why Black Carbon Demands Urgent Action
“Black carbon is one of the longest, unresolved issues running at the IMO, and must be dealt with without delay”, said Prior. “The next opportunity comes in February 2026, when the IMO’s Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response will meet (PPR 13) to discuss polar fuels.”
“A strong agreement on polar fuels can set rules which will reduce black carbon emission levels from shipping in the Arctic region”, added Prior. “The deadline for submitting proposals is December – a concrete proposal is needed led by Arctic states like Norway or Canada on polar fuels that will ensure a reduction of Arctic black carbon emissions.
A regulation requiring the use of polar fuels in the Arctic must set the foundation in MARPOL Annex VI (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships) for reductions in emissions which reduce the impact of black carbon on the Arctic.
Arctic Shipping Risks
In Canada’s Northwest Passage, salvage vessels have recently reached the Dutch-owned cargo ship MV Thamesborg that ran aground in early September. Also in early September, the sanctioned oil tanker, the Oman-flagged 274-meter Lynx, ran aground in the Russian Arctic, along with the ‘shadow-fleet’ LNG carrier Arctic Metagaz which was halted by heavy ice in the area around Pevek for more than a week.
An increase in shipping in the Arctic will not only lead to
-an increase in shipping’s global climate impact due to black carbon emissions – which have a disproportionately higher impact when emitted in the Arctic, and
-an increase in disturbance to wildlife and to communities dependent on marine resources due to increased ship pollution including underwater noise in a comparatively quiet ocean, but will also
-increase the risk of damaging oil spills in a region ill-equipped to respond to an accident.
“Ahead of the development of any new shipping routes via the Arctic, an impact assessment should be undertaken and considered strategically to ensure that the highest level of environmental protection be adopted”, said Prior. “Any ship operating on the Northern Sea Route should be ice-strengthened due to the risk of ice, and issued with a polar certification under the international Polar Code. Furthermore, there should be no use or carriage of residual fuels including very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) or exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers), instead ships should use distillate fuels or other new non-fossil fuels with comparably low black carbon emissions, and implement noise abatement plans. Substituting one super-pollutant – black carbon – for another – methane from LNG fuel will also be unacceptable”, said Prior.
-Learn more about the Northern Sea Route
-Infographic: Growth in Arctic shipping is Bad News and the result of a destabilised Arctic Environment
