Supertankers and giant cargo ships could next year travel regularly between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via the Arctic to save time, money and emissions, say Scandinavian shipowners.
New data from companies who have taken advantage of receding Arctic sea ice this year to complete several voyages across the north of Russia shows that the “northern sea route” can save even a medium-sized bulk carrier 18 days and 580 tonnes of bunker fuel on a journey between northern Norway and China. The voyage would normally take upwards of 40 days.
Even bigger fuel and time savings have been reported this week by Danish shipping company Nordic Bulk Carriers which says it saved a third of its usual costs and nearly half the time in shipping goods to China via the Arctic.
via Melting Arctic ice clears the way for supertanker voyages | Environment | guardian.co.uk.
Ed Note: Two points here:
Q: Will the common person see any benefit from this huge risk?
A: No. Only the rich will benefit. Our planet and the poor will once again be on the receiving end of the dirty stick.
Q: How long before this pristine environment will get a dose of the BP Effect (a.k.a. Deep Horizon)?
A: Not very long. I give it a year until one of those massive tankers gets carved open by an ice floe. What a sad day that will be, indeed. Picture a Polar Bear covered in oil…
Richard
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February 7, 2012 at 1:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
[...] Ed Note: …and now they want to do the same thing in the arctic?! Read about Supertankers in the Arctic [...]