Arctic Passage

Cutting as much as ten days – 40 per cent – off the sea journey from western Europe to Japan has been made possible in the last couple of years, courtesy of global warming, by record sea-ice melt in the Arctic Ocean. With the result that in the first half of this year Russia has been able to approve the transit along its coast through its Northern Sea Route, previously the “Northeast Passage”, of some 204 ships, up from only 46 ships last year, and just four two years earlier. (more…)