South Korea has launched its first commercial container voyage to Europe via the Arctic, with Poland’s Gdańsk set to become the vessel’s final European port of call. The PanStar Acro left Busan on August 22 and is due to sail along Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, cross the Bering Sea and enter the Northern Sea Route before calling at British port Felixstowe and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It is scheduled to reach Gdańsk around September 15. The voyage is the latest step in emerging Arctic trade links between Europe and Asia. In October 2025, Gdańsk received the first container ship to complete a China–Europe Arctic voyage, cutting the journey from Ningbo to the Polish port to 25 days. Seoul says Arctic shipping could shorten Asia–Europe journeys by about 35% compared with the Suez route as it seeks to establish regular services by 2030.
