A fisherman hauls his catch in July 2007 near the port in Anadyr in northern Russia.
A fisherman hauls his catch in July 2007 near the port in Anadyr in northern Russia.
You don't often hear people talk up the benefits of global warming but there appears to be at least one upside — commercial ships traveling the Arctic waters above Russia can now make the voyage sans icebreakers.
According to Reuters:
Two German ships set off on Friday on the first journey across Russia's Arctic-facing northern shore without the help of icebreakers after climate change helped opened the passage, the company said.
Niels Stolberg, president and CEO of Beluga Shipping GmbH, said the "Beluga Fraternity" and "Beluga Foresight" left the Russian port of Vladivostok on the historic and cost-saving journey with cargo picked up in South Korea bound for Holland.
The melting of Arctic ice as a result of climate change has made it possible to send Beluga's multi-purpose heavy lift ships along the legendary Northeast Passage, Stolberg said.
Beluga got Russian authorities' clearance to send the first non-Russian commercial vessels through the route on Friday.
The Northern Sea Route trims 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km) off the usual 11,000-mile journey via the Suez Canal — yielding considerable savings in fuel costs and CO2 emissions, he said.
So global warming, which CO2 contributes to, leads to fewer CO2s being emitted, at least in this one example. Strange but true.
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