Northwest Passage crossed by first cargo ship, heralding new era of Arctic commercial activity

[GliderGuider]

Caution, extreme irony ahead!!!

Northwest Passage crossed by first cargo ship, the Nordic Orion, heralding new era of Arctic commercial activity

LONDON — An ice-strengthened sea freighter has become the first bulk carrier to traverse the Northwest Passage through Canada’s Arctic waters, heralding a new era of commercial activity in the Arctic.

Travelling with a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, the 75,000 deadweight-tonne Nordic Orion left Vancouver on Sept. 17 carrying 15,000 metric tons of coal. It is currently off Nuuk, Greenland, where it let a Canadian Arctic adviser off board.

“The Northwest Passage is more than 1,000 nautical miles shorter than the traditional shipping route through the Panama Canal and will save time, fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions,” said Nordic Bulk Carriers, the Danish owner of the ship.

[Mnemosyne]

1. ffs...

[Triana]

2. What the actual f*ck.

[FBaggins]

3. Actually... an oil tanker did it almost 45 years ago.

But yeah... the irony is amazing. The more they use it for this purpose... the more likely that it gets easier.



Note the odd bow design.

[GliderGuider]

6. The Manhattan did it, but with only one token barrel of oil on board.

This was a loaded bulk carrier, so it's a little more serious proof of concept. But yes, other sites mention the Manhattan's crossing, 45 years ago.

[FBaggins]

7. True enough... but this too is more token then proof

The wouldn't have made it without the icebreaker they had with them... and the cost savings for the shorter trip wouldn't come close to the added cost of the iceabreaker.

Still... it makes a point - which I suspect was the intent.

[GliderGuider]

8. The interesting thing to me is the question of Arctic sovereignty

The Nordic Orion complied with all Canadian regulatory requests in return for free icebreaker accompaniment. That strengthens the Canadian legal position wrt sovereignty, which is a hotly disputed topic up there.

[packman]

4. Climate change at work?

Last edited Tue Oct 1, 2013, 02:33 PM - Edit history (1)

When in the good old days sitting in Mrs. Buchannan's geo class, we all drew little lines on paper maps tracing the Northwest Passage and learning how it was a dream that explorers had.
NOW---
All I can say is thank gawd for global warming. Now the people who ship coal (which INCREASES carbon dioxide crap) can save time and fuel getting it from point A to point B. Sort of boggles the mind about the little twists this news item has.

[tclambert]

5. Yay, Global Warming! Already making the world better!

Who needs Florida anyway?

[thefool_wa]

10. If Florida was completely consumed by the atlantic ocean

I think America might be a better place.

[thefool_wa]

9. Nice

They said a couple hundred years ago that it was there...turns out they were right, we just had to wait for the ice to melt.

This is just glass-half-full reporting

(and regardless of how it sounds, I am not being sarcastic at all).