By Paul Homewood
h/t Dave Ward
From Reuters:
The Arctic voyage by the 3,600 20-foot container capacity Venta Maersk is the latest step in the expansion of the so-called Northern Sea Route which is becoming more accessible to ships as climate change reduces the amount of sea ice.
The brand new Venta Maersk, one of the world’s largest ice-class vessels, will also collect scientific data, said Maersk, underlining that the voyage is a one-off trial for now.
The decision by Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipping group, to test out the route is a positive sign for Russia, which hopes this could become a mini Suez Canal, cutting sea transport times from Asia to Europe.
“A well-respected company like Maersk sending a container ship through the Arctic, definitely signals there’s something there,” Malte Humpert, a senior fellow at U.S.-based think-tank Arctic Institute, said.
The Northern Sea Route runs from Murmansk near Russia’s border with Norway to the Bering Strait near Alaska. Ships sailing it require a permit from Russian authorities.
The Venta Maersk in the Russian port of Vladivostok as it prepares to set off on its Arctic voyage, Russia August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Maltsev
While the route is significantly shorter than going via the Suez Canal, it has not yet proven to be commercially viable for container shippers.
“Currently, we do not see the Northern Sea Route as an alternative to our usual routes,” a spokeswoman for Maersk said.
“Today, the passage is only feasible for around three months a year which may change with time,” the spokeswoman said.
Sea ice around the North Pole reaches its biggest area at the end of the winter in March, and thaws to an annual minimum in September. The ice has shrunk in recent decades in a trend scientists have linked to man-made climate change.
In the past, more expensive ice-classed vessels, higher transit fees, unpredictable ice coverage, high insurance rates, a lack of search and rescue teams, and hefty fees for Russian ice-breaker escorts have put off many international shipping firms.
But Russian officials have said there is strong interest in the sea route from Asian countries and that new icebreakers will allow for year-round navigation in the 2020s.
The Venta Maersk left Vladivostok on Russia’s east coast on Thursday and is scheduled to depart Busan, South Korea, early next week. It will then pass through the Bering strait around Sept. 1 with expected arrival in St. Petersburg on the Baltic by end-September.
Cue all of the usual “the sky is falling” nonsense.
As Maersk themselves admit, they do not see the Northern Sea Route as commercially viable, and this trip is no more than a test voyage. While in theory the passage may be open for three months a year, in practice there are many potential pitfalls concerning the weather and ice conditions, which could lead to delays and worse.
It will also come as little surprise to learn that the Venta Maersk is no ordinary container ship, but, as the article mentions, an ice-class vessel. And no ordinary ice-class vessel either, but a Class 1A ship, newly built and one of the largest such vessels around.
Maersk are building seven of these, for use as Baltic feeder ships, designed to ply their traffic around the Baltic all year round. As it may have occurred to you, the Baltic is pretty icy in winter.
Class 1A is a Finnish/Swedish classification, with a requirement to navigate through 1m thick non-consolidated ice. This does not qualify it as an ice-breaker, and they are regarded as needing ice-breaker support in difficult conditions. Nevertheless the Venta would have little difficulty navigating thin ice.
What Reuters forgot to tell as well is that the Venta will be accompanied by an ice-breaker on this trip anyway (just in case, you know!):
The voyage will start once the company gets the all-clear from Russian authorities following their evaluation of ice conditions. Maersk’s boxship will be provided with ice breaker assistance during the voyage.
https://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/259182/maersk-to-test-northern-sea-route-with-new-boxship/
In fact, as NSIDC confirm, the Northern Sea Route has for a long while usually pretty free of sea ice at this time of the year anyway. The only real risk is getting stuck around the Taymyr Peninsula:
http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/bist
Be in no doubt – Russia is pushing this route as hard as it can, as it could prove big business for them, a mini Suez Canal, as Reuters describe it.
The decision by Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipping group, to test out the route is a positive sign for Russia, which hopes this could become a mini Suez Canal, cutting sea transport times from Asia to Europe.
Russia is building new roads and a railway and overhauling its ports in an expansion of its freight capacity to prepare for a potential increase in shipping traffic along its Arctic coast.
“This is a matter of national pride … if Russia wants to maintain strong, economic development, the Northern Sea Route is part of that,” Humpert said.
Whether shipping companies like Maersk see it that way is another matter entirely, climate change or not.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
August 24, 2018 at 01:27PM
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