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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>Sep-12 10:58 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 19) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>20891.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Melting ice opens Arctic trade route
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>2 ships traverse fabled sea passage from Asia to Europe, thanks to global warming </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Moscow - For centuries, mariners dreamed of an Arctic short cut that would allow them to speed up trade between Asia and the West.
Last week, two German merchant ships reached Yamburg in Siberia after traversing the fabled North-east Passage.
The passage has opened up a route from South Korea along Russia's Arctic coast, the result of global warming and melting ice.
The two ships, Beluga Fraternity and Beluga Foresight, had started their journey in late July from Ulsan in South Korea, and are headed for Rotterdam in the Netherlands with 3,500 tonnes of construction material.
'We are all very proud and delighted to be the first Western shipping company which has successfully transited the legendary Northeast Passage and delivered the sensitive cargo safely through this extraordinarily demanding sea area,' Mr Niels Stolberg, president and CEO of Beluga, said in a statement posted on the company's website on Friday.
Traditionally, ships travelling from Asia to Europe have to go through the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea and, pending their destination, to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Northern Sea Route trims about 3,000 nautical miles (5,500km) off the usual 11,000 nautical mile journey via the Suez Canal, which Beluga has said would yield substantial savings in fuel costs and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.
Researchers said the ability to navigate the route showed the impact of climate change.
They said that the Arctic Ocean ice cap has been shrinking to unprecedented levels in recent summers because of global warming, opening up many passages that were ice-choked in earlier times. The North-east Passage was one such sea lane abound with icebergs.
In July, new National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite measurements showed that sea ice in the Arctic was not just shrinking in area, but thinning dramatically as well.
'We are seeing an expression of climate change here,' said Mr Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Boulder, Colorado.
'The Arctic is warming; we're losing the sea ice cover. The more frequent opening of that North-east Passage is part of the process we're seeing.'
'The Arctic is becoming a blue ocean,' he said.
Mr Serreze said that the northern route 'is going to become more and more open on a seasonal basis', but it will not be consistently open because of local weather patterns that could still freeze it up for long periods of time.
The Russians hope that the transit of the German ships will inaugurate the passage as a reliable shipping route, and that the combination of the melting ice and the economic benefits of the short cut will eventually make the Arctic passage a summer competitor to the Suez Canal.
Dr Lawson Brigham, a professor of geography at the University of Fairbanks who led in the writing of the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment, an international report on Arctic commerce, confirmed that the passage of the two German ships appeared to be the first true commercial transit of the entire North-east Passage from Asia to the West.
The Russian Transport Ministry said the policy now was to promote the route, and it is considering lowering the flat fee charged for icebreaker escort and rescue if needed.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>2 ships traverse fabled sea passage from Asia to Europe, thanks to global warming </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Moscow - For centuries, mariners dreamed of an Arctic short cut that would allow them to speed up trade between Asia and the West.
Last week, two German merchant ships reached Yamburg in Siberia after traversing the fabled North-east Passage.
The passage has opened up a route from South Korea along Russia's Arctic coast, the result of global warming and melting ice.
The two ships, Beluga Fraternity and Beluga Foresight, had started their journey in late July from Ulsan in South Korea, and are headed for Rotterdam in the Netherlands with 3,500 tonnes of construction material.
'We are all very proud and delighted to be the first Western shipping company which has successfully transited the legendary Northeast Passage and delivered the sensitive cargo safely through this extraordinarily demanding sea area,' Mr Niels Stolberg, president and CEO of Beluga, said in a statement posted on the company's website on Friday.
Traditionally, ships travelling from Asia to Europe have to go through the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea and, pending their destination, to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Northern Sea Route trims about 3,000 nautical miles (5,500km) off the usual 11,000 nautical mile journey via the Suez Canal, which Beluga has said would yield substantial savings in fuel costs and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.
Researchers said the ability to navigate the route showed the impact of climate change.
They said that the Arctic Ocean ice cap has been shrinking to unprecedented levels in recent summers because of global warming, opening up many passages that were ice-choked in earlier times. The North-east Passage was one such sea lane abound with icebergs.
In July, new National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite measurements showed that sea ice in the Arctic was not just shrinking in area, but thinning dramatically as well.
'We are seeing an expression of climate change here,' said Mr Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Boulder, Colorado.
'The Arctic is warming; we're losing the sea ice cover. The more frequent opening of that North-east Passage is part of the process we're seeing.'
'The Arctic is becoming a blue ocean,' he said.
Mr Serreze said that the northern route 'is going to become more and more open on a seasonal basis', but it will not be consistently open because of local weather patterns that could still freeze it up for long periods of time.
The Russians hope that the transit of the German ships will inaugurate the passage as a reliable shipping route, and that the combination of the melting ice and the economic benefits of the short cut will eventually make the Arctic passage a summer competitor to the Suez Canal.
Dr Lawson Brigham, a professor of geography at the University of Fairbanks who led in the writing of the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment, an international report on Arctic commerce, confirmed that the passage of the two German ships appeared to be the first true commercial transit of the entire North-east Passage from Asia to the West.
The Russian Transport Ministry said the policy now was to promote the route, and it is considering lowering the flat fee charged for icebreaker escort and rescue if needed.
[email protected]
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