Optimization Of China-Europe Container Arctic Routes

With global warming,the Arctic sea ice is melting fast,which means China enhancing trade to Europe by Arctic routes can be expected soon.In order to explore the development of Arctic routes and feasible schemes of route transportation at present,this paper c starting from geographical features,analyzed features of both Eurasian Arctic routes and the traditional route through the Suez Canal,the development prospect and the geographical value of Eurasian Arctic container shipping routes.Under the background of vigorously promoting the strategy of"one belt and one road",it is of great practical significance to study the feasibility of building the "ice on the Silk Road" and to open up the economic value of the route.The study shows that the distance between Europe and Asia via Arctic routes is 19?26%shorter than that of the traditional shipping route,and the voyage time is 25?33%shorter from geographic value.Although the shipping cost of Arctic routes per twenty-foot equivalent unit(TEU)is high,its economic benefits exceed those of the traditional shipping route when the cargo time value is considered in the shipping cost.Considering the travel ability,the Suez Canal is the key of traditional routes.In the event of terrorist attacks or political turmoil in coastal countries,ships will be forced to go across the Cape of Good Hope,and the cost and time of transportation will increase substantially.Arctic routes have higher strategic value due to the stable politics of the coastal states and good travel ability.Considering economic value,the geo-economic value to Eurasia brought by the Arctic channel will reach 17.97 billion USD based on a calculation.Considering the shipping route network optimization,this paper considers the time value of Arctic routes and newly developed traditional routes.In the case of fixed demand for container transportation between China and Europe,an improved genetic algorithm based on neighborhood search is applied to optimize container routes.The results of this study provide a feasible route optimization planning method for liner companies to carry out container transportation on the Arctic route in the future.