Asia – Baltic via the Danish straits
The Baltic is reached only through the Danish straits, where deep-draught ships are advised to take pilots, and its northern ports set ice-class restrictions every winter.
Europe · sea freight from Xiamen
Xiamen to Helsingborg
South China Sea · Malacca Strait · Indian Ocean · Bab-el-Mandeb · Suez Canal · Strait of Gibraltar · English Channel · Danish Straits
From Xiamen to Helsingborg, cargo moves through Xiamen, the port for more than 90% of Fujian's lithium battery exports, crosses a long Europe voyage extended through the Danish straits into the Baltic, and is discharged at the port of Helsingborg.
The Swedish side adds the Naturvårdsverket register to the EU battery rules. This page sets out 5 points specific to this route, how Anxin handles each one and which documents to prepare.
What we need to start
Route profile
The Baltic is reached only through the Danish straits, where deep-draught ships are advised to take pilots, and its northern ports set ice-class restrictions every winter.
Registration with Naturvårdsverket since January 2026 under Ordinance 2025:813, and the EU-wide battery and ICS2 duties.


Where this route gets difficult
Listed from loading in Xiamen to import into Sweden, each with what we do about it.
Xiamen's energy-storage transport guide 2.0 (August 2026) notes that some ESS containers are carried on multipurpose ships and requires a pre-voyage meeting with the terminal and lashing parties. It also lists the terminals with class 9 qualification: Xiamen Hyundai terminal, Yuanhai Tongda, and Haixiang berths 7–8.
What Anxin does: For ESS units we confirm early whether the carrier offers container-ship or multipurpose carriage, which qualified terminal is used, and who attends the pre-voyage meeting.
Up to the Danish straits the voyage matches North Europe's: Sea-Intelligence put Red Sea routing at 27% for North Europe services in September 2026, so most containers still sail round the Cape of Good Hope, where SAMSA estimates about 35% of the containers lost in 2024 went overboard.
What Anxin does: We quote the Suez and Cape routings separately when both are offered and apply the CINS stuffing checks strictly on Cape sailings.
Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 pushed the Battery Regulation's due diligence duties for cobalt, lithium, nickel and natural graphite back to 18 August 2027 and gave the Commission until 26 July 2026 for its guidelines. Buyers in Sweden are already collecting the supply-chain information they will need.
What Anxin does: We pass the Sweden buyer's due diligence questions to the manufacturer and keep their answers with the shipment file; the policy itself remains the producer's responsibility.
Road delivery from Helsingborg is an ADR movement, because the EU applies ADR to domestic journeys through Directive 2008/68/EC. For UN 3480 that means class 9, transport category 2 and tunnel code (E), which restricts the route through category E tunnels; batteries found damaged at unloading move to special provision 376 packing (P908 or P911).
What Anxin does: We give the Sweden haulier the same UN number, class and package details that appear on the sea dangerous goods declaration, so the ADR transport document matches the container paperwork from Xiamen.
For portable batteries, Annex I sets maximum levels of 0.0005 % mercury, 0.002 % cadmium and 0.01 % lead by weight, the lead limit applying since 18 August 2024. The importer in Sweden may be asked by market surveillance to demonstrate compliance.
What Anxin does: We ask the manufacturer for its substance declaration or test report reference and file it with the shipping documents for the Sweden importer; we do not test batteries.

Documents & compliance
These documents come from the shipper, the manufacturer and the importer. Anxin checks them against each other; it does not issue test reports, safety data sheets or import certificates.

A document that is present but inconsistent holds a booking as surely as a missing one: the UN number, model name or carton count reads differently in the Xiamen export filings, the carrier booking and the Sweden import papers. We compare all three before confirming space.
Carriers we book with
Our booking panel; availability on this lane and acceptance of the declared UN numbers are confirmed for each booking. It does not mean that a listed carrier runs a direct service on this route. Carrier choice depends on the trade lane, cargo classification and each carrier's dangerous-goods acceptance at booking. The final carrier is confirmed on the booking.
Risk & mitigation
| Risk | Where | Mitigation | Who acts |
|---|---|---|---|
| ESS unit arrives at a terminal without class 9 qualification | Xiamen port | Qualified terminal confirmed at booking | Anxin with the carrier |
| Road route planned through a category E tunnel | Road leg from Helsingborg | Tunnel code (E) passed to the haulier with the transport data | Haulier / forwarder |
Questions
ADR, which the EU applies to domestic journeys through Directive 2008/68/EC. UN 3480 is class 9, transport category 2, with tunnel restriction code (E).
Often, but it depends on the service. The Baltic is reached through the Danish straits, and we ask the carrier to name any transhipment port and confirm DG acceptance for each vessel.
Yes. Xiamen MSA reported 104 ESS containers of 36 tonnes each loaded for Houston in June 2026. Xiamen's ESS guide 2.0 requires a pre-voyage meeting and use of a class 9 qualified terminal.
References
Next step
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We check carrier acceptance for Xiamen → Helsingborg before any booking, and ask for missing battery documents first.
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