On Thursday, Russian energy major Gazprom delivered to China its first cargo of liquified natural gas (LNG) which as shipped through the Northern Sea Route (NSR), according to a report in Reuters. The news agency cited the LSEG financial information company, which noted Moscow wants to expand using the Arctic corridor as the West seeks to constrain it through sanctions.

According to the data the Velikiy Novgorod tanker carried a cargo of LNG from the Portovaya LNG plant in the Baltic Sea, sailing to China on August 14th. It has since arrived at the Tangshan Caofeidian terminal in the Hebei province.

Russia is investing heavily in the infrastructure for the NSR, a route running through the Atlantic Ocean just off the northern coastline of the country, in the hopes it will become a major shipping route between East Asia and Europe, given it is the shortest shipping route between the two regions.

The Kremlin has touted the NSR as an alternative to the Suez Canal, and it is already considered a major international artery and global transportation corridor, according to Russia’s minister for the development of the Far East and the Arctic, Aleksey Chekunkov.

Speaking to RT on Wednesday while at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, he noted a major part of the global economy was dependent on the NSR.

He said, “All the countries that receive our liquefied natural gas, including those that are currently deemed ‘unfriendly’ … The intensity of shipping will increase many times in the next seven years.”

Although the route, which travels through arctic waters can be challenging, its use can shorten a voyage by about 30%, or as much as two weeks, compared to the southern route through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal.