The ‘Dubai Tower’, the first vessel in Sea Legend’s new seasonal China-Europe Arctic Express service, has arrived in Hamburg.
The “Dubai Tower”, sailing under the Liberian flag, has arrived at the Port of Hamburg, where it is being handled by Eurogate. Prior to this, the container ship, which is around 175 metres long, had travelled along the Northern Sea Route past the Russian Arctic coast. The voyage is part of the China-Europe Arctic Express (CAX), through which Sea Legend aims to establish a seasonal liner service between China and Northern Europe.
The “Dubai Tower” set sail from Ningbo-Zhoushan in China on 15 August and subsequently called at other Chinese ports. Following its final call at Qingdao in China, the route took the ship through the Bering Strait and then westwards along the Russian northern coast. The vessel has a capacity of around 1,740 TEU.
On the European side, the “Dubai Tower” first called at Teesport in the UK. It arrived there on 9 September. Originally, Felixstowe was due to be the first European port of call on 5 September. In fact, the vessel did not reach Felixstowe until 12 September and subsequently set course for Hamburg. This demonstrated, even on the first voyage of the season, that the short transit times advertised by Sea Legend do not necessarily equate to corresponding adherence to the timetable.
Eight voyages planned for 2026
Sea Legend has announced a total of eight weekly sailings via the Arctic for this year’s summer season. Departures are scheduled between mid-August and early October. The route is intended to connect Chinese ports such as Ningbo, Shanghai and Qingdao with Northern Europe.
Eurogate quotes a transit time of around 18 days between China and Northern Europe. Other figures for the service put the transit time at around 20 days between the final Chinese port and Europe. In addition to Hamburg, Germany’s only deep-water port, Wilhelmshaven, is also to be used as a port of call on subsequent voyages.
The time saving is one of the key arguments in favour of the Northeast Passage. Conventional routes between East Asia and Northern Europe take significantly longer, whether via the Suez Canal or – when bypassing the Red Sea – via the Cape of Good Hope. However, due to ice conditions, the Arctic route can so far only be used seasonally. Added to this are specific technical, nautical and insurance-related requirements.
Such a call at Hamburg is not entirely new, however. Back in October 2025, the ‘Istanbul Bridge’ – also operated by Sea Legend – had already reached Hamburg following a voyage via the Northeast Passage. That voyage was conceived as a pilot project for the China-Europe Arctic Express. With this year’s programme, Sea Legend is now seeking to develop a recurring seasonal service from individual voyages.
Hapag-Lloyd rules out Arctic route
Whilst Sea Legend is expanding the route, Hapag-Lloyd continues to rule out the use of Arctic routes for its own fleet. The Hamburg-based liner shipping company had already signed up to the “Arctic Shipping Corporate Pledge” in 2019 and announced that it would not use Arctic routes as long as negative consequences for the ecosystem could not be ruled out.
Environmental organisations are also criticising the current voyages. On the occasion of the “Dubai Tower”’s arrival in Europe, the Clean Arctic Alliance warned of additional climate and environmental risks posed by growing commercial shipping traffic in the Arctic.
