What if the Suez Canal is blocked again? Putin: We are developing a new route

Russia is planning a new container ship route from the Caspian sea to northern Europe to tackle congestion on the Suez Canal, according to the UnitedShipbuilding Corporation. Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly discussed the plan during a meeting with United Shipbuilding Group CEO Alexei Rakhmanov.

In response, Rakhmanov said that United Shipbuilding group is actively developing a ship suitable for the Caspian sea to Northern Europe route. At present, few shipbuilders are able to build this type of ship systematically. In terms of civil ship construction, especially small ships, UASC will use its experience in the design and construction of riverboats and cruiseships as a reference to open up a whole new field of shipbuilding.

Alexei Rakhmanov added: "Starting this year, The United Shipbuilding Group of Russia is designing a container ship that will pass through the Caspian Sea to Helsinki, Finland. In this way, Russia will open up routes that do not depend on other countries: load goods in northern Iran or western China and send them to Helsinki via Olya, a port on Russia's Caspian Coast. The ship is expected to travel at 10.26 nautical miles (19 kilometers) per hour from The Port of Ora to Helsinki in just seven to eight days without fear of Somali pirates or congestion in the Suez Canal.

The route, in Alexei Rakhmanov's words, is a "real alternative" to the Suez Canal route, which runs through the Volga River, the Volga-Baltic sea route and the Moscow Canal to St Petersburg. In addition, the ship will be able to sail to the White Sea near Russia, but there will be less cargo due to the small size of the dock.

In fact, the Russians have been looking for alternatives to the Suez route. When the Suez Canal was blocked in March by the long Gift ship, which ran aground, Russia began touting the feasibility and importance of the Arctic route.

But there are still many problems with actually using the Arctic route: Firstly, in terms of infrastructure, despite the existence of important supply ports such as Murmansk and Vladivostok, there are few cities on the coast of the Arctic ocean and the Pacific Ocean in Russia, which makes it very difficult to support the ships in case of any problems in transit. Secondly, in terms of climate warming, the rise of arctic temperature brings opportunities for the development of Arctic shipping routes, but climate change is a long and unpredictable process, and it takes decades or even hundreds of years for the temperature rise to form considerable changes. Thirdly, the application of icebreaker requires a lot of power, and the cost of passing ships will rise with the application of icebreaker.

Nor is the Caspian to Northern Europe route being developed by Russia a "perfect alternative" to the Suez Canal. In the waters near Gorodets, Russia, near Nizhny Novgorod, the draft is less than 2.6 meters, compared to the minimum of 3.6 meters required by the usual transport requirements of shipping lines and passenger ship companies, which is the biggest problem facing the route at present. On the other hand, the high cost of transporting goods is also a major problem, so UASC is working with shipping companies to find a solution.