Excerpts from Albert Buixadé Farré, lead author of a study published in the Polar Geography journal:
Cut the distance from Yokohama to Europe almost in half! With Arctic ice melting, a trip from Yokohama to Hamburg will be 40 percent shorter! That’s the pitch to persuade us that melting ice will unlock the maritime potential of the Arctic, leading to a potential boom in commercial Arctic shipping and a viable alternative to the Suez route. A closer examination of the complex reality unveils a sober outlook for container shipping and a hopeful one for bulk cargo.
Among the various Arctic routes, the Northeast Passage (NEP) along the Norwegian and Russian coasts rises above the others as the least impractical one. Compared to the Northwest Passage’s icy Canadian archipelagos, NEP has warmer waters and simpler geography. If any of the Arctic routes can succeed in breaking the ice of commercial shipping, it’s this one.