Tanker becomes first to cross Arctic without icebreaker

[jpak]

http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/25/news/arctic-ice-tanker-ship/index.html

A Russian tanker carrying natural gas has become the first merchant ship to sail across the Arctic without the help of an icebreaker, finishing the journey in record time.

The ship, the Christophe de Margerie, traveled from Norway to South Korea in 19 days, about 30% quicker than the regular route through the Suez Canal, its Russian owner, Sovcomflot, said this week.

The tanker managed to complete the northernmost part of the voyage between two remote Russian ports -- known as the Northern Sea Route -- in a record-breaking six-and-half days.

Every year, arctic ice naturally shrinks in the spring and summer before growing again during winter. But as global temperatures have risen, the old sea ice that lasts year after year has shrunk to its smallest level in three decades.

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[Bayard]

1. We are so screwed.....

But global warming is such a hoax!

[ismnotwasm]

2. Not good news

[earthshine]

3. Big energy and shipping companies have been banking on imminent global warming for profit.

It's been going on for decades. Why would these elite companies fight the effects of pollution when they can profit from a melting world?

[KT2000]

4. Exactly -

it is all about get all the money while you can. Naysaying politicians know this.
The military has been planning for global warming for years, especially in the Arctic. They expect trouble there so the Navy has been charged with planning for it.