Two investigations by the US Federal Maritime Commission opened this spring: into the conditions of navigation of US merchant ships at the locations of seven “choke points “(in March), and “flags of convenience” (in May) are still in the initial phase, with the first one closing for public and interested business comment on May 13, while the second one is due to close on August 20.
The FPM has listed the following seven maritime “hotspots” of interest to American business: the English Channel, the Moluccas Strait, the North Sea Strait, the Singapore Strait, the Panama Canal, Gibraltar and the Suez Canal (not including Bab el-Mandeb on the southern approach to the Red Sea).
Officially, those investigations are for the information gathering. FMC at the same time underscores its authority to act if it finds that foreign practices are harming US interests. Under existing US law, the FMC has the power to impose measures such as limiting port calls, suspending service contracts, or directing US customs or the Coast Guard to deny entry or clearance to certain vessels in extreme cases. Notably, the FMC has not proposed or threatened any such measures.
It will therefore be interesting to follow what informative findings the FMC might come up with, in the case of the North Sea Passage, where examples of close trade-maritime cooperation between Russia and China have become increasingly evident this summer. And this at a time of mutually emphasized rivalry between Washington and Moscow and Beijing, which has far exceeded the domain of trade.
In any case, China and Russia are working hard to establish an alternative Asia-Europe transport route via the Arctic that would be operational not only from July to November, as is the case so far, but also throughout the year. One example of this cooperation, which has not escaped the attention of vigilant NATO observers, is the sailing of the Chinese ship “Newnew Polar Bear”, which departed from Shanghai on July 16 and, as expected, arrived on August 15 in the port of Arkhangelsk at the mouth of the Northern Dvina River into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. This is the ship that was involved in an incident with underwater cables in the Baltic in 2023.
A number of other Chinese ships are also currently sailing the North Sea from Asia to Europe: the journey along this route, for example, between Tianjin and St. Petersburg, takes four weeks. Sailing through the Suez Canal would take 40-50 days, provided that the threats from the Yemeni Houthis are successfully avoided.
Meanwhile, the Chinese company “Sea Legend” plans to launch a regular line between China and northern Europe in September, where sailing between Shanghai and Rotterdam could take only about twenty days. In other words, this shipping route greatly accelerates access for Chinese goods to Western markets. Whether this threatens US interests will be assessed by its Federal Maritime Commission too.
