When China convened its Belt and Road Forum in Beijing in May, most of the attention focused on the initiative’s plans for transportation infrastructure across the Eurasian landmass and the Indian Ocean. Since then, however, China formally incorporated the Arctic into its plans for maritime cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, also sometimes called One Belt, One Road.
The Vision for Maritime Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, released on June 20 by China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the State Oceanic Administration, explains that a “blue economic passage” is “envisioned leading up to Europe via the Arctic Ocean.”
This “blue economic passage” would be along Russia’s Northern Sea Route, the Arctic shipping lane that hugs the country’s north coast. Over email, Dr Marc Lanteigne, a Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at Massey University in New Zealand and a China expert, explained, “This paper is the first official confirmation that the Arctic Ocean is among the ‘blue economic passages’ Beijing is seeking to develop.”
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Russian tanker cruises through the Arctic without an icebreaker for the first time as climate change thaws the region's frozen waters
A Russian tanker has cruised through the northern sea route without an icebreaker escort for the first time.
Experts claim that climate change is to blame as warming temperatures thaw the region's frozen waters.
The £234 million ($300 million) Christophe de Margerie completed the journey from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea in just 19 days.
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Russian tanker passes through Arctic Ocean from Norway to South Korea without an icebreaker for the first time
Ice-breaking tanker Christophe de Margerie CREDIT: OLESYA ASTAKHOVA/REUTERS
Climate change has enabled a Russian tanker to travel through the Arctic without icebreaker escort for the first time. The Christophe de Margerie completed the journey from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea in only 19 days, the Guardian reported.
In doing so it was able to complete the journey 30 per cent faster than travelling via the Suez Canal, the alternative route.
Even though the £234 million tanker does have its own inbuilt icebreaker, in the past it has been impossible for tankers to undertake the journey without a separate escort.
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Russian tanker sails through Arctic without icebreaker for first time
A Russian tanker has travelled through the northern sea route in record speed and without an icebreaker escort for the first time, highlighting how climate change is opening up the high Arctic.
The $300m Christophe de Margerie carried a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea in 19 days, about 30% quicker than the conventional southern shipping route through the Suez Canal.
The tanker was built to take advantage of the diminishing Arctic sea ice and deliver gas from a new $27m facility on the Yamal Peninsula, the biggest Arctic LNG project so far which has been championed by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
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The Arctic route: What does it mean?
Climate change has allowed a Russian gas tanker to travel the Northern Sea Route without an accompanying icebreaker and in record time. The opening up of the high Arctic all year round shaves 30 per cent off the travel time through the conventional Suez Canal-Malacca Strait route, and has implications for global shipping
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The Northern Sea Route, Russia’s Coronary Artery
MARITIME AFFAIRS OFTEN occupy a discrete place in global politics, but they function as the circulatory system of our world order. Great powers are made and unmade at sea, where wars are won and lost; goods, people and ideas spread; some of the most interesting principles of international law are developed; and the world’s ecosystems are regulated.
The importance of water – oceans, seas and rivers – also concerns Russia, even if the country is often perceived as a predominantly continental power with limited access to the open seas. One prominent scholar, Leslie Dienes, described Russia as an archipelago, with its few “islands” or nodes of human settlement, economic activity and political power separated from each other by impassable terrain. But while land acts as an obstacle, water connects these nodes to each other and to the outer world.
In this regard, Russia’s Arctic cities and settlements may be best connected in the country, lying at the mouths of great rivers that cut across the country and facing the Arctic Ocean. Framing Arctic communities in this way may be an exercise in paradoxical thinking, but it is necessary to understand the significance of the so-called Northern Sea Route – Russia’s frontier and its coronary artery.
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Future Development of the Northern Sea Route
On June 8, 2015, the Russian government released the Russia’s Integrated Development Plan for the Northern Sea Route 2015-2030. The plan stresses the importance of providing safer and more reliable navigation on Northern Sear Route (NSR) for maritime export of Russian natural resource materials but also the strategic importance of NSR for Russian national security. The plan is also to increase international transit cargo transportation on NSR in partnership with Asian countries and in particular with China.
The Ministry of Far East Development of Russia released a public tender in December 2015 for a detailed NSR’s feasibility and development study prepared by the Far East Development Fund. The study should be completed over a period of six months or by July 1, 2016. The organization chosen to complete the task was the Analytical Center for the Government of the Russian Federation. So Russian government’s future development plans for the NSR should become clear during the second half of this year.
Importance of NSR for Russian Energy and Industrial Development - A substantial part of the Arctic hydrocarbon resource potential is located in NW Russia and offshore in the Barents and Kara seas at the western gateway of the NSR. Current and future development of this Russian resource base is the main driver for increased shipping on the NSR in the coming decades.
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Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route (Russian: Се́верный морско́й путь, Severnyy morskoy put, shortened to Севморпуть, Sevmorput) is a shipping route officially defined by Russian legislation as lying east of Novaya Zemlya and specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from the Kara Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait. The entire route lies in Arctic waters and within Russia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Parts are free of ice for only two months per year. The overall route on Russia's side of the Arctic between North Cape and the Bering Strait has been called the Northeast Passage, analogous to the Northwest Passage on the Canada side.
While the Northeast Passage includes all the East Arctic seas and connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Northern Sea Route does not include the Barents Sea, and it therefore does not reach the Atlantic.
Melting Arctic ice caps are likely to increase traffic in and the commercial viability of the Northern Sea Route. One study, for instance, projects, "remarkable shifts in trade flows between Asia and Europe, diversion of trade within Europe, heavy shipping traffic in the Arctic and a substantial drop in Suez traffic. Projected shifts in trade also imply substantial pressure on an already threatened Arctic ecosystem.
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As Arctic Ice Vanishes, New Shipping Routes Open
As global warming melts sea ice across the Arctic, shipping routes once thought impossible — including directly over the North Pole — may open up by midcentury. But high costs may keep the new routes from being used right away.
The amount of sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean has declined sharply each decade since the 1980s, according to measurements taken each September when the ice is at its minimum. Older, thicker ice is disappearing as well. Scientists say global warming is largely responsible for the changes. Parts of the Arctic are warming twice as fast as elsewhere.
The changing conditions offer an opening to shipping companies. The Arctic is potentially a faster, more direct route between Asia and ports in Europe and eastern North America.
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Challenges facing Arctic will affect Singapore & the world: DPM Teo
Environmental & economic developments in the Arctic are of great interest to Singapore, as challenges facing the region will affect the country and the world, according to Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean.
He was speaking at the Arctic Circle Singapore Forum on Thursday (Nov 12), which discussed issues in the region.
The event was organised by Arctic Circle - a non-profit organisation co-founded by Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson in 2013 - together with the Singapore Maritime Institute. The forum seeks to facilitate dialogue on the the Arctic.
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Arctic shipping? Still a dream
For centuries, a harsh climate & ice-choked seas dashed the dreams of sailors attempting to cross the Canadian Northwest Passage between Asia & Europe. Now, thanks to climate change & reduced ice cover, the trip is not nearly so daunting. This month, the Crystal Serenity, a luxury cruise ship, carried a record thousand-plus passengers and crew through the passage. Next year, it will do the same.
Does this mean that the age-old vision of a time-saving, money-making Arctic passage for the world’s shippers is finally coming true? Do not bet on it.
In theory, it is a terrific idea. Travelling from Shanghai to Rotterdam via the Northwest Passage is about 3,540km shorter than going through the Panama Canal. In 2013, the Nordic Orion became the first bulk cargo carrier to traverse the passage. Bound for Finland from Vancouver, it shaved more than 1,600km - & US$200,000 (S$271,800) - off a more typical route.
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Giant cruise ship heads to Arctic on pioneering journey
It is a voyage explorers only dreamt of not so long ago.
But thanks to climate change, a luxury cruise ship has undertaken a pioneering journey that will see it sail through the once impassable Northwest Passage during a month-long trip that is drawing much excitement but also criticism from environmentalists.
The Crystal Serenity, which set off from Seward, Alaska on August 16 with nearly 1,000 passengers, is scheduled to dock in New York on Sep 17.
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China wants ships to use faster Arctic route opened by global warming
China will encourage ships flying its flag to take the Northwest Passage via the Arctic Ocean, a route opened up by global warming, to cut travel times between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a state-run newspaper said on Wednesday.
China is increasingly active in the polar region, becoming one of the biggest mining investors in Greenland and agreeing to a free trade deal with Iceland.
Shorter shipping routes across the Arctic Ocean would save Chinese companies time and money. For example, the journey from Shanghai to Hamburg via the Arctic route is 2,800 nautical miles shorter than going by the Suez Canal.
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Beijing urges China-flagged ships to use Arctic route
China will encourage ships flying its flag to take the Northwest Passage via the Arctic Ocean — a route opened up by global warming — to cut travel time between the Atlantic & Pacific oceans, said a state-run newspaper yesterday.
China’s Maritime Safety Administration this month released a 356-page guide in Chinese offering detailed route guidance from the northern coast of North America to the northern Pacific, said the China Daily.
“Once this route is commonly used, it will directly change global maritime transport and have a profound influence on international trade, the world economy, capital flow and resource exploitation,” ministry spokesman Liu Pengfei was quoted as saying. Chinese ships will sail through the Northwest Passage “in the future”, added Mr Liu, without giving a time frame.
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Ship crosses Northwest Passage, sails into history
Sometime between Sunday and Monday evenings, Greenwich Mean Time, the bulk carrier Nordic Orion passed through the Northwest Passage and into Baffin Bay, sailing into history as it went.
The ship – a 225-metre, ice-strengthened carrier loaded with B.C. coal bound for Finland – became the first bulk carrier to make the voyage, which has lured explorers for more than a century and has long been eyed as a commercial route.
Until the Nordic Orion, however, the passage was travelled mostly by icebreakers, tugs and small cargo ships hauling supplies to northern communities, as well as adventurers undertaking the journey in rowboats and even Jet Skis.
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Northwest Passage crossed by first cargo ship, the Nordic Orion, heralding new era of Arctic commercial activity
An ice-strengthened sea freighter has become the first bulk carrier to traverse the Northwest Passage through Canada’s Arctic waters, heralding a new era of commercial activity in the Arctic.
Travelling with a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, the 75,000 deadweight-tonne Nordic Orion left Vancouver on Sept. 17 carrying 15,000 metric tons of coal. It is currently off Nuuk, Greenland, where it let a Canadian Arctic adviser off board.
“The Northwest Passage is more than 1,000 nautical miles shorter than the traditional shipping route through the Panama Canal and will save time, fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions,” said Nordic Bulk Carriers, the Danish owner of the ship.
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Why the icy Arctic matters to Singapore
The Arctic may be remote, but melting ice caps caused by climate change will have far-reaching effects, submerging coastal areas in places such as S'pore and altering global shipping routes.
This has driven Singapore’s participation as a permanent observer in the Arctic Council in the last 3 years, and prompted preparations to adapt, said Minister of State (Prime Minister’s Office and Manpower) Sam Tan in an interview with TODAY.
“We have been given 1st-hand information by scientists that if the current trend continues, sea levels may rise by half a metre within the next 50 years, and by a metre within a century,” said Mr Tan, who has been the political office-holder representing Singapore in Arctic Council meetings.
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What is the connection between Singapore and the Arctic region?
One country is a small tropical island near the equator, & the other, an icy region near the northern tip of the Earth. But both Singapore & the Artic region share common concerns in climate change and global warming, with many potential areas for cooperation, said Minister of State (Prime Minister’s Office, Manpower) Sam Tan in a speech at the Arctic Circle Greenland Forum last week held in Nuuk, Greenland.
He listed several collaborations, such as the development of maritime infrastructure to facilitate safe shipping as new sea routes open in the Arctic, and exchanges between universities in climate change and sustainable development research.
Singapore has been a permanent observer on the Arctic Council since 2013.
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This Russian ship may spell the end of Singapore’s prosperity
Set to sail in 2014, the Baltika is a vessel Singapore cannot ignore
The Northern Sea Route
The ship’s name is Baltika. You would expect this vessel to be a military one with advanced weaponry. It is not.
Baltika is an icebreaker. While conventional icebreakers do their job by sailing head-on or rear-on into ice, Baltika does so sideways.
This 76 million euro vessel was ordered by the Russian Ministry of Transport in 2011 and built by Finnish company Arctech. It is scheduled to be delivered to Russia in the spring of 2014.
Russia mulls new agency for polar shipping
Russia may establish a new bureau to oversee growing shipping traffic through its Arctic Northern Sea Route, report the Barents Observer and Voice of Russia.
The Northern Sea Route administration would provide navigational and hydrographic information to ships travelling through the Arctic Ocean over the top of Russia, in a route sometimes also called the Northeast Passage.
Traffic is already growing on this route, which cuts one-third of the travel time off a trip between European and Asian ports through the Suez Canal.
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The Northern Sea Route
A graphical comparison between use of the North East Passage (blue) and an alternative route through the Suez Canal (red)
The Northern Sea Route (Russian: Се́верный морско́й путь, Severnyy morskoy put, shortened to Севморпуть, Sevmorput) is a shipping lane officially defined by Russian legislation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from Kara Gates strait between the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait. The entire route lies in Arctic waters and parts are free of ice for only two months per year. Before the beginning of the 20th century it was called the Northeast Passage, and is still sometimes referred to by that name.
History - The motivation to navigate the North East Passage was initially economic. In Russia, the idea of a possible seaway connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific was first put forward by the diplomat Gerasimov in 1525. However, Russian settlers and traders on the coast of the White Sea, the Pomors, had been exploring parts of the route as early as the 11th century.
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A Russian tanker has carried a cargo from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea in 22 days, about 30% quicker than the conventional southern shipping route through the Suez Canal
related: New Silk Road 新絲綢之路 Xīn sīchóu zhī lù
A Russian tanker has carried a cargo from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea in 22 days, about 30% quicker than the conventional southern shipping route through the Suez Canal
related: New Silk Road 新絲綢之路 Xīn sīchóu zhī lù
Key to success of the Maritime Silk Road
The "One Belt, One Road" 一带一路 initiative
Arctic shipping: The Northwest Passage
Singapore And The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Embracing, Leaning & Tilting towards China
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)
Singapore - China Bilateral Ties
The Little Red Dot and the Red Dragon
Singapore China G-to-G Projects
Arctic shipping: The Northwest Passage
Singapore And The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Embracing, Leaning & Tilting towards China
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)
Singapore - China Bilateral Ties
The Little Red Dot and the Red Dragon
Singapore China G-to-G Projects
