Maersk Sends Ice Vessel Through Arctic Route
By Paul Homewood
h/t Dave Ward
From Reuters:
The Arctic voyage by the 3,600 20-foot container capacity Venta Maersk is the latest step in the expansion of the so-called Northern Sea Route which is becoming more accessible to ships as climate change reduces the amount of sea ice.
The brand new Venta Maersk, one of the world’s largest ice-class vessels, will also collect scientific data, said Maersk, underlining that the voyage is a one-off trial for now.
The decision by Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipping group, to test out the route is a positive sign for Russia, which hopes this could become a mini Suez Canal, cutting sea transport times from Asia to Europe.
“A well-respected company like Maersk sending a container ship through the Arctic, definitely signals there’s something there,” Malte Humpert, a senior fellow at U.S.-based think-tank Arctic Institute, said.
The Northern Sea Route runs from Murmansk near Russia’s border with Norway to the Bering Strait near Alaska. Ships sailing it require a permit from Russian authorities.
The Venta Maersk in the Russian port of Vladivostok as it prepares to set off on its Arctic voyage, Russia August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Maltsev
While the route is significantly shorter than going via the Suez Canal, it has not yet proven to be commercially viable for container shippers.
“Currently, we do not see the Northern Sea Route as an alternative to our usual routes,” a spokeswoman for Maersk said.
“Today, the passage is only feasible for around three months a year which may change with time,” the spokeswoman said.
Sea ice around the North Pole reaches its biggest area at the end of the winter in March, and thaws to an annual minimum in September. The ice has shrunk in recent decades in a trend scientists have linked to man-made climate change.
In the past, more expensive ice-classed vessels, higher transit fees, unpredictable ice coverage, high insurance rates, a lack of search and rescue teams, and hefty fees for Russian ice-breaker escorts have put off many international shipping firms.
But Russian officials have said there is strong interest in the sea route from Asian countries and that new icebreakers will allow for year-round navigation in the 2020s.
The Venta Maersk left Vladivostok on Russia’s east coast on Thursday and is scheduled to depart Busan, South Korea, early next week. It will then pass through the Bering strait around Sept. 1 with expected arrival in St. Petersburg on the Baltic by end-September.
Cue all of the usual “the sky is falling” nonsense.
As Maersk themselves admit, they do not see the Northern Sea Route as commercially viable, and this trip is no more than a test voyage. While in theory the passage may be open for three months a year, in practice there are many potential pitfalls concerning the weather and ice conditions, which could lead to delays and worse.
It will also come as little surprise to learn that the Venta Maersk is no ordinary container ship, but, as the article mentions, an ice-class vessel. And no ordinary ice-class vessel either, but a Class 1A ship, newly built and one of the largest such vessels around.
Maersk are building seven of these, for use as Baltic feeder ships, designed to ply their traffic around the Baltic all year round. As it may have occurred to you, the Baltic is pretty icy in winter.
Class 1A is a Finnish/Swedish classification, with a requirement to navigate through 1m thick non-consolidated ice. This does not qualify it as an ice-breaker, and they are regarded as needing ice-breaker support in difficult conditions. Nevertheless the Venta would have little difficulty navigating thin ice.
What Reuters forgot to tell as well is that the Venta will be accompanied by an ice-breaker on this trip anyway (just in case, you know!):
The voyage will start once the company gets the all-clear from Russian authorities following their evaluation of ice conditions. Maersk’s boxship will be provided with ice breaker assistance during the voyage.
https://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/259182/maersk-to-test-northern-sea-route-with-new-boxship/
In fact, as NSIDC confirm, the Northern Sea Route has for a long while usually pretty free of sea ice at this time of the year anyway. The only real risk is getting stuck around the Taymyr Peninsula:
http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/bist
Be in no doubt – Russia is pushing this route as hard as it can, as it could prove big business for them, a mini Suez Canal, as Reuters describe it.
The decision by Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipping group, to test out the route is a positive sign for Russia, which hopes this could become a mini Suez Canal, cutting sea transport times from Asia to Europe.
Russia is building new roads and a railway and overhauling its ports in an expansion of its freight capacity to prepare for a potential increase in shipping traffic along its Arctic coast.
“This is a matter of national pride … if Russia wants to maintain strong, economic development, the Northern Sea Route is part of that,” Humpert said.
Whether shipping companies like Maersk see it that way is another matter entirely, climate change or not.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Beware stray Russian missiles…
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2018/08/nuclear-powered-missile-crashed-barents-sea-intelligence-report-allegedly-claims
At the outbreak of war in 1939 I believe I am right in saying that a German freighter in the Japanese sea at the time, returned to the Baltic via the Arctic route successfully
And shortly after that the RCMP schooner St Roch (323 tons) sailed across the Canadian Arctic in both directions in the 1942-44 time period. Since this would have been impossible in the 1960-1990 period, one is led to believe that the Arctic has a freeze/thaw cycle of approximately 70 years in length, and that we are just coming out of a warm peak. Any major investments by Russia to support the Arctic sea route are therefore likely to be singularly pointless in another decade or so when we enter the Arctic cold cycle.
Not forgetting Gjøa 1903-06 of course in ‘Another Part of the Forest’.
And doesn’t that ‘about seventy years cycle’ fit well with the AMO which is at it’s peak now and beginning to enter it’s cooling period?
Roger, I take it you have been watching and evaluating the Arctic ice far longer than the Russians, right? I am sure you live on it as they apparently don’t – in your mind, at least. I doubt very seriously that the Russians would be investing in this “venture” unless they were extremely confident in the outcome. Could it be that is why they have been building all those nuclear powered ice breakers? I rather suspect they are fairly confident in their ability to keep the lanes open. It is getting shipping to have that same confidence in running it.
Tom O.
Gratuitous sarcasm that in no way relates to the point I was making is quite unnecessary and makes you appear foolish, not me.
I avidly follow information on the AMO and the PDO as I am particularly interested in how those cycles affect populations of salmon in each of the basins and the Russians have published a number of papers illustrating just how those cycles have affected their stocks as have the Canadians and USA.
I did comprehend the thrust of this post and am pleased for your sake to see that despite a mental aberration in your first sentence you too have a grasp of the facts.
Tom O
If the commercial actions of the Russian government with regard to the Northern route become the arbiter of what is true and what is not true about climate change in the Arctic, we are indeed in parlous times.
Of course, the Chinese say that their Admiral Zhang sailed around the Arctic Sea hundreds of years ago when he reported it as largely ice free. Such a voyage enables the Chinese to talk about having discovered it since this was well before of the current claimants were recording any trips there (or recording much of anything really).
Naturally, all deemed and potential claimants to the Arctic completely ignore the presence of locals there for thousands of years.
I think you’re referring to this interesting story: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-1Epi-c3-WH2-1Epi-j.html
Well the vessel is a type of icebreaker and even they get stuck sometimes. It would be hilarious if it got stuck while the press was in full fanfare.
It would be even more amusing if the press were on board. I won’t mention which ones.
[Copy/paste of my post yesterday on Dogbark thread, have you noticed how there are many news providers but only one relentless stream of climate/pollution news!]
This is all we will hear about. (Warning to blood pressure sufferers, this article contains factoids on steroids!).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45271766
Q: When is an icebreaker not an icebreaker?
A: When its a ‘specialty cargo’ ship and you want to give the impression that there is no ice to break!
My read of the article says this vessel can negotiate loose ice up to a meter thick. It isn’t an icebreaker which breaks up solidified ice packs and solid ice. There are many ships that negotiate loose ice. This happens to be one that negotiate fairly thick loose ice.
As Paul says above and as I have mentioned elsewhere, it’s class 1A, it can operate in very ice challenging conditions, it’s one down from 1A super, which generally don’t need any icebreaker assistance. These ships are INTENDED to operate WITH icebreaker assistance in very ice challenging conditions. Opening up a route tells you about economics and technology, not the state of Arctic ice.
Paul you did an item on puffins recently ?
The BBC are back..are they being creative
From a personal point of view, I think it’s great news, some considerable distance and time can be saved for container traffic – what’s not to like and provided the Russians grant safe passage, the prospects are only beneficial.
As to the other stuff – bin it under green hogwash.
Reblogged this on Climate Collections.
“Northern Sea Route which is becoming more accessible to ships as climate change reduces the amount of sea”
I studied the data and did not find that changes in arctic sea ice extent were related to global warming. Here are my results.
https://tambonthongchai.com/2018/08/04/does-global-warming-drive-changes-in-arctic-sea-ice/
The difference between taking advantage of change and fighting it is sometimes lost.
I will be impressed when they send a boat across Antarctica!
But, according to the University of Maine, Antarctica is 3.7 C below normal. This drop was actually forecast a few weeks ago and this was noted by Joe Bastardi at the time.
This has contributed to making the Climate Reanalyzer’s 2-meter Global Temperature Anomaly ZERO:
https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#sstanom
The above link actually brings up the Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly.
Here is the 2-meter Anomaly (i.e. where our noses are):
https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#t2anom
There were a couple of shipments on the Arctic route by the LNG tankers Eduard Toll and Vladimir Rusanov a few weeks ago, destination China. However, port congestion saw them waiting days to discharge, delaying their return. Since then it appears that the specialised Arc7 class fleet have returned to milk runs from Sabetta to Montoir, France as the favoured transshipment port, leaving normal LNG tankers to take the slow route via Suez and run the risk of time on demurrage. Delayed voyages, whether for ice or otherwise, risk shutting in gas production.
Perhaps when the Chinese have invested in port expansion with extra berths and discharge tanks Novatek may risk it again.
It is interesting to look at the current post on notrickszone (on sea ice ) and the image there that shows a remarkable agreement of changes in sea ice with AMO from 1900-2013.
http://notrickszone.com/2018/08/24/arctic-summer-sea-ice-growth-trend-extends-another-year-greenland-summer-one-of-coldest-in-30-years/
The present state seems to be very similar to that of the early 1930s.
If I can find this information with very little effort , why does it escape the capabilities of BBC journalists earning £100Ks/year?
“…why does it escape the capabilities of BBC jounalists earning £100Ks/year?”
‘Hysterical blindness’ caused by the trauma of being over-paid?
As I understand it, Arctic sea ice is rarely more than a meter thick, except where is piles up on a shore line. Nuclear ice breakers should not have much trouble clearing a passage. Real problem seems to be the speed the ice returns to close up the passage but then the Russians do have a LOT of nuclear ice breakers..
“…Arctic sea ice is rarely more than a meter thick…”
No, that is in Antarctica. Even now:
But Arctic sea ice on the Russian side IS often much thinner than on the Canadian side and – as is obvious in the above – one can sail there for a brief time in late summer.
I remember reading a novel in the 1970’s, that was set on a ship doing the Northern Sea Route. The route has apparently been a major cost saving during the few Siberian summer months for quite a long time now. So – it’s the AGW activists going nuts again!
O/T – there’s the old joke about Siberia having only two seasons – August the 20th and Winter.
Passenger ship runs aground near Kugaaruk, Nunavut
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/kugaaruk-passenger-ship-1.4798750
They got it re floated and passengers flown south.
Passengers on grounded Arctic cruise ship to be flown back to Yellowknife
https://globalnews.ca/news/4409872/grounded-arctic-cruise-ship-passengers/