Oil, shipping gain as Arctic warms

Global warming, blamed for melting polar bears’ icy Arctic habitat, could be a boon to the shipping and oil industries in the far North, according to a new U.S. report.

The dramatic decrease in sea ice above the Arctic Circle means formerly impenetrable shipping routes are now or soon could be open for much of the year, the U.S. Arctic Research Commission said in a report released last week at a summit of Arctic scientists in Hanover.
“Diminishing sea ice conditions in the Arctic Ocean are changing ecosystems, most conspicuously for polar bears,” said the commission’s report, prepared for U.S. President George W. Bush and Congress.

“This also creates unprecedented access for ships that will bring people to the north, and will significantly shorten global marine transportation routes,” it said.

The cost difference is dramatic, according to Mead Treadwell, the commission chairman. The estimated cost of transporting a shipping container between northern Europe and Alaska’s Aleutian Islands is about US$500 he said; moving the same container between Europe and the port of Yokohama, through the Suez Canal, costs about US$1,500.

The biennial report is meant to chart a course for the next two years, coinciding with a global scientific undertaking known as the International Polar Year.

Canada.com