Era of Trans-Arctic Shipping Nigh

[FarCenter]

Since 1553, when Sir Hugh Willoughby led an expedition north in search of a sea passage over Russia to the Far East, mariners have dreamed of such a shortcut. (Willoughby and his crew, apparently incapacitated asphyxiated by carbon monoxide after sealing up their boat against brutal cold, were found frozen in placeto death by Russian fishermen. Hat tip to commenters below.)

In part because of warming and the retreat and thinning of Arctic sea ice in summer, this northern sea route is slowly becoming a reality. Russian vessels have long hauled ore and oil along the country’s sprawling northern coast, but no commercial ships under other flags have passed between Asia and Western Europe. Now, a German company, the Beluga Group of Bremen, has a ship poised to make what appears to be the first such trip, an 8,000-mile shortcut compared with alternate routes. The “ Arctic Rush” is on.

One of the company’s 66 ships, the 12,700-ton Beluga Fraternity, designed for a mix of ice and open seas, picked up equipment in Ulsan, South Korea, on July 23 and arrived in Vladivostok on the 25th. Its destination is the docks in Novyy Port, a Siberian outpost. And after that, if conditions permit, it will head to Antwerp or Rotterdam, marking what company officials say would be the first time a vessel has crossed from Asia to Europe through the Arctic on a commercial passage.

<snip> http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/era-of-trans-arctic-shipping-nigh/