Five centuries after the Cape of Good Hope were named and a hundred or so years after the Suez Canal were open, we will soon be looking at a new sea route between Europe and Asia - on the top of the world.

It’s probably already stale news that people are talking about the “Northeast Passage”. Referring to the picture above, the new shipping route via the Arctic will shorten the travel distance between Europe and the northern cities in Asia by about 1/3.   

Ironically, this new triumph to us logistic professionals should all thanks to the infamous global warming effect – the ice once covered the Arctic has melted so much that large scale cargo vessels can now navigate through the cold water.

This BBC website offers a tool to see the ice melting of the Arctic over years. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6995999.stm

This new shipping route could mean enormous cost saving for the global ocean transportation. It also means large investment on stronger ships which can journey through the cold water and harsh environment in the Arctic. It will bring more strategic importance to the sea ports in the northern Asia cities, such as Shanghai and Yokohama. Meanwhile, the status of Singapore and Hong Kong as transshipment hub will be marginalized.

As usual, the “kiasu” Singaporeans had noticed this long ago. See this article in the Straits Times: http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_158368.html

Soon the countries that are doing carbon trade will have something to fight about. As the Arctic is mainly bordered by two countries: Canada and Russia, whoever else that want to go through the water need to ask whether the two are happy about it. While nobody cares about the cold continent a decade ago, now the fight on the ownership of the land is hot.

“Canada says it has full rights over those parts of the Northwest Passage that pass through its territory and that it can bar transit there.

But this has been disputed by the US and the European Union. They argue that the new route should be an international strait that any vessel can use.”

Anyway, I guess Canada may own those land when the land was still ice, but when ice becr the Arctic ice than there are human. While more ships are going across the Arctic for the shorter route, the pollution from oil and noise of the ships are going to be detrimental to the marine life in the Arctic.  

I remembered the first time when I heard that polar bears are drowning to death. Everyone knows polar bears are strong swimmers, saying they are drowning to death is like saying birds have fears of height – such a cold joke. However, the truth is they are drowning to death because they increasingly have to swim long hours to find food, and there is no resting place for them along the way since ice are melting. Therefore they are too tired during swimming and drown…

The truth leaves me dumbfounded. Mankind is both blissfully and evilly smart. And their smartness could bring so much impact to the living things in this world. When we enjoy the peace and serenity of this picture, remember that this lovely giant beast increasingly have no place to go.

Leave them alone, I’d say…

Links:

1)      http://ecoworldly.com/2009/08/27/russias-northeast-passage-open-to-commercial-shipping/

2)      http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0225_050225_arctic_landrush.html

3)      http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article767459.ece