26 August, 2017
The total time of the voyage from Hammerfest in Norway to the port of Boryeong in South Korea was 19 days, about 30% faster than the regular southern route through the Suez Canal. In the past, the Northern Sea Route was only usable for four months of the year, and then with the help of an icebreaker.
Usually, the only way to sail through the Arctic is with the aid of an icebreaker, but the tanker is specially created to take advantage of the melting sea ice by having an inbuilt one that allowed it to get through ice around 1.2 meters (4 feet) thick without an escort.
The tanker was carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) and managed the trip in 19 days, knocking nearly a third off the time it would take to go around Europe and through the Suez Canal.
'It's very quick, particularly as there was no icebreaker escort which previously there had been in journeys, ' Bill Spears, spokesman for the shipping company which owns the tanker, Sovcomflot, told the Guardian.
The company is very proud of the fact that the Christophe de Margerie can operate using LNG fuel.
"There has been a steady increase in traffic in recent years", said Spears. On 17 August 2017, the Sovcomflot-owned icebreaking LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie successfully completed her first commercial voyage, transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the NSR from Norway to South Korea.
'This is a significant factor in a fragile ecosystem, ' Mr Spears said. This demonstrates the economic potential of using the Northern Sea Route for large-capacity vessel transits.
This link with the Pacific reduces its need to sell gas through pipelines to Europe.
There has been an overall decline in Arctic sea ice over the past 30 years, linked by scientists to rising global temperatures.
However, there's no doubt that the thawing of the Arctic ice is making the shipping route more viable than ever. "It's a major saving".
"Even if we stopped greenhouse emissions tomorrow, the acceleration in the loss of Arctic ice is unlikely to be reversed", oceanographer Simon Boxall, from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, told Patrick Barkham at The Guardian. "Even if we stopped greenhouse emissions tomorrow, the acceleration in the loss of Arctic ice is unlikely to be reversed", he said.
"We've been able to sail through the Northwest Passage for several years now but the Northern Passage, which goes past Russian Federation, has opened up on and off since 2010".
"You are taking industrial-sized installations and moving them through a pristine Arctic environment, so it's going to have an impact - and what are we getting in return, slightly shorter journey times?" This year, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), the annual maximum extent of Arctic sea ice hit a record low for the third year in a row.
