Re: Arctic shipping to conserve energy.
Posted: Wed 03 Jul 2013, 13:11:24
http://www.dw.de/climate-change-could-e ... a-16914245
The saga continues, pressure to use the Northern Sea Route continues to grow both financially and politically. With the riots in Egypt and Turkey plus the civil war in Syria many shippers think the Suez canal is getting too dangerous.
But all those fears are tempered by the advantages of sailing along Russia's northern coast. A cargo vessel transiting from Murmansk to a port in China will use as much as 40 percent less fuel than if it followed the Suez Canal route, said Yoshinori Miura, head of operations for the Norwegian firm Det Norske Veritas (DNV) in Tokyo. "And for a ship that only has to go from Europe to a port in South Korea, the journey can be cut from 38 days to just 19 days," he said.
The ice breaker Vidar Viking Mar (Photo: dpa) Experts believe the ice cover will continue to decrease
Another advantage is that vessels emit far less pollution on the shorter route - carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced by 1.2 million tons a year by 2030 - while shipping firms are also able to avoid unstable parts of the world, such as waters off the Horn of Africa, where pirates regularly prey on merchant ships.
DNV recently conducted a study into the potential of the northern route and concluded that increasing demand will see transits increase to 500 a year by 2030 and 900 by 2050. There are clear benefits to businesses both in Europe and the Far East. China, Japan and South Korea were in May all granted observer status on the Arctic Council, the organization that sets policies on the region.
The saga continues, pressure to use the Northern Sea Route continues to grow both financially and politically. With the riots in Egypt and Turkey plus the civil war in Syria many shippers think the Suez canal is getting too dangerous.