2010 will be remembered as the year the Arctic Ocean became a trade route

In the 1980s , the Soviet Union builtnuclear - power frappe - breakers , hop to open a shipping route through the Arctic . They need n’t have bothered — there ’s no frosting allow now in the summertime , opening the legendary Northeast Passage to merchant marine .

harmonize to a new report in Barents Observer , the Northeast Passage , now renamed the Northern Sea Route , will become the new shipping route between Europe and Asia , now that it ’s proved to be water ice - free . The journeying through the Arctic Ocean was a risky one when Finnish - Swedish explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskioeld made the 15 - month journeying in 1878 - 1879 . But this summer , Norwegian adventurer Børge Ousland sailed the precise same road in his little trimaran . It took a few hebdomad instead of 15 months , and he hardly saw any ice . In fact , he barely witness any living things at all . Hetold a Norwegian broadcaster :

The most surprising with this trip is that we have hardly picture any animals at all . We have only seen animals , seals , walrus and diametrical bear where there has been frosting .

24tb Seagate Drive

The photograph above and below get along from 2007 , and they show the icebergs in the realm melting . But that internal-combustion engine is all go in the summertime .

According to the cheerful report in the Barents Observer , 2009 was the first year that transportation company discovered the region was ice - free , and 2010 was the “ breakthrough year . ” And 2011 will be the year that transportation in the region takes off completely . Says the Observer article :

The Russian and external transport industry see the ongoing clime changes and the retreating of the summer icing - ceiling in the Arctic as a new opportunity . The aloofness from Europe to Asia is much shorter when sailing northward instead of using the Suez channel or sail around Africa . Shorter sailing route save time and save fuel . In other intelligence ; save money . Also , the Arctic is free of pirates … When the succeeding history of the Arctic will be written , 2010 will be marked off as the breakthrough year for commercial shipping along the Northern Sea Route .

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