Hugo Ahlenius of the United Nations Environmental Program shows how to get from Rotterdam to Seattle and Yokohama through the Arctic. This graphic was used recently by Scott Borgerson in his article on the political implications of the melting polar ice cap (Arctic Meltdown, in the Mar/Apr Foreign Affairs). Borgerson estimates that the Arctic Route can cut the Rotterdam-Seattle run from 9,000 nautical miles through the Panama Canal, to 7,000 nautical miles; the Rotterdam-Yokohama route drops from 11,200 miles through the Suez Canal, to 6,500 miles.
He estimates that new Arctic routes could cut the cost of a trip by a large container ship from $17.5 million to $14 million. And that's for a ship that can cut through one of the canals. The savings for larger ships that would now have to go around Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope would be even larger.
Ahlenius' map is available at Northern Sea Route and the Northwest Passage compared with currently used shipping routes.
If Russia is successful, however, its already mighty energy reserves would be given a massive boost—although there is still doubt about the technical feasibility of extracting oil and gas from the Arctic.Despite growing concerns over the way Moscow uses its energy for political gain, Russian scientists have repeatedly pledged that there is no intention to grab any part of the Arctic.“A unilateral annexation of the area by Russia is impossible,” said Viktor Posyolov of the Russian Institute of Ocean Geology, which has led the Arctic exploration. “We will strictly abide by the UN convention.”
Posted by: r4i | February 05, 2010 at 02:08 AM