‘Something we have not seen’
In September, a container ship sailed from China to the UK via the Northern Sea Route, marking a change in the shipping industry’s decades-old practices.
What’s going on?
This route has been used infrequently before, but rising global temperatures are melting Arctic sea ice, allowing commercial traffic to pass. One newsletterNingbo Customs Region heralded the opening of “the world’s first China-Europe Arctic Express container route”, calling it a “major breakthrough” for China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the region. CNN.
The development implements a 2017 proposal to create a “Polar Silk Road” between China and Russia, according to the statement, which points to the goal of “year-round navigation”.
“[This] “This is something we haven’t seen in the Arctic before,” Malte Humpert, founder and senior fellow of the Arctic Institute, told CNN.
Although the route halves the time and carbon pollution required to travel to Europe via the Suez Canal, there are some drawbacks. Sea ice can block or damage ships; Freezing temperatures, darkness and fog in the Arctic pose hazards that threaten humans and animal life as well as the environment.
A mishap could result in death or an oil spill. Other concerns include noise pollution and whale attacks. “It’s not a matter of ‘if,’ it’s just a matter of ‘when,'” Humpert told CNN.
Why is this important?
“Experts say developing this route could bring huge economic and geopolitical rewards to China, which is eyeing an ice-free Arctic and the strategic opportunities it could provide,” CNN reported. “But they warn that moving fleets of ships through this untouched, remote and dangerous environment is an ecological and human disaster waiting to happen.”
The fact that the route is navigable shows how much the climate has changed in just decades. The rapid warming of the Earth due to the production of polluting gases that surround the planet like a blanket is most pronounced at the poles. The ice is melting at an alarming rate. This contributes to sea level rise and creates a negative feedback loop in which white ice gives way to dark water that absorbs the sun’s rays rather than reflecting them.
Destabilization of the Arctic has the potential to disrupt the natural balance of the environment and wreak havoc all over the world.
What is being done about the Northern Sea Route?
CNN noted that Western countries are reluctant to use the route due to its proximity to Russia and environmental risks. Mediterranean Shipping Company committed to avoiding the “fragile ecosystem” by saying its business does not depend on using the route.
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