Tag: Northwest Passage

Fednav announced that its vessel, the MV Nunavik sailed from Deception Bay en route to China via Canada's Northwest Passage, with a full cargo of nickel concentrate

The Arctic summer of 2014 is nearing an end. Overall, the rate of ice loss during August was near average. Regions of low concentration ice remain in the Beaufort and East Siberian seas that may yet melt out or compress by wind action. While the Northwest Passage continues to be clogged with ice and is unlikely to open, the Northern Sea Route along the Siberian coasts appears open except for some ice around Severnaya Zemlya. As the end of the southern winter draws closer, Antarctic sea ice extent remains higher than average. Sea ice extent in August 2014 averaged 6.22 million square kilometers (2.40 million square miles). This is 1.00 million square kilometers (386,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 August average, but well above the 2012 August average of 4.71 million square kilometers (1.82 million square miles). Extent was below average throughout the Arctic except for a region in the Barents Sea, east of Svalbard. The ice edge continued to retreat north of the Laptev Sea, and is now within 5 degrees latitude of the North Pole. August ice extent declined at an average rate of 54,300 square kilometers (21,000 square miles) per day. This was slightly less ...

The Arctic summer of 2014 is nearing an end. Overall, the rate of ice loss during August was near average

Crystal Cruises announced a new expedition-style voyage traversing the Arctic Ocean via the legendary Northwest Passage

Nordic Orion sails from Vancouver to Finland in a historic transit The international shipping industry is these days witness to a historic event, when a vessel for the first time ever is sailing from Vancouver in Canada to Finland through Arctic waters. The bulk carrier MV Nordic Orion is using the North West Passage as a transit trade lane, when transporting coal from Vancouver in Canada to Finland. The historic transit is shorter than traditional shipping routes and will not only save time, fuel and CO2, but also increase the load of cargo with 25% compared to the Panama Canal.With its ice cover changing and a bulk carrier set out to conquer it, the Northwest Passage is becoming a potentialviable route for commercial traffic. MV Nordic Orion will carry a cargo of 73,500 tons of coal via the so called North West Passage, through Arctic waters to Finland, which could make it the first commercial bulk carrier to traverse the route since the SS Manhattan broke through in 1969.The two-year-old vessel left Vancouver on September 6 on a route planned with the Canadian authorities and coastguard. MV Nordic Orion is one of the world's few modern ice-class bulk carriers, managed ...

Global warming is opening a door for ships

Arctic mapping to make navigating Northwest Passage safer

Satellite measurements confirme another year of below-average ice cover Satellite measurements have confirmed another year of below-average ice cover in the Arctic resulting in two major shipping routes have opened in the Arctic Ocean.In 2008 satellites saw that the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route were open simultaneously for the first time since satellite measurements began in the 1970s - and now it has happened again.While the Northern Sea Route above Russia (also known as the Northeast Passage) has been open to shipping traffic since mid-August, recent satellite data show that the most direct course in the Northwest Passage now appears to be navigable as well.Located in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Northwest Passage can be a short cut for shipping between Europe and Asia - but with the opening of the sea route comes the potential for both sovereignty claims and marine species migration across the Arctic Ocean.In 2007, Arctic sea ice hit a record low since satellite measurements began nearly 30 years before. That same year, the historically impassable Northwest Passage opened for the first time.Unusual weather contributed to 2007's record ice loss: skies opened over the central Arctic Ocean and wind patterns pushed warm air into ...