China opens regular Arctic container route, halving Europe–Asia transit times

China has launched the first regular container shipping service between Europe and the Far East through the Arctic, cutting voyage times to about 20 days, roughly half the duration of conventional routes, the Financial Times reported. The so-called "Ice Silk Road" allows vessels to bypass shipping chokepoints including the Suez Canal and the Strait of Malacca. Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have pushed many carriers onto the longer route around southern Africa in recent years, raising costs and transit times. Separately, the European Space Agency's chief warned that Europe faces a shortage of rocket launch capacity by 2030, with demand for launches growing faster than the region's ability to supply them.