Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
OpenCanada.org, November 2013 – Why We Aren’t Ready for an Active Arctic
Alaska Public Media, April 2014 – a recent report by the Government Accountability Office concludes commercial industries aren’t planning to boost shipping through the Bering Strait or elsewhere in the U.S. Arctic over the next decade.
I seem to recall a brief increase in hipster enviro fraudster boat traffic last year.
I kinda laugh about the leftards squealing about the sea ice in the arctic and its possible exploitation. When they can’t even run ships up the great lakes. due to Ice.
I wonder how many of these idiots packed bathing suits.
Most Lefties have never seen thick ice because they’ve never been farther from Toronto than Oakvile.
I thought nobody made it through the Northwest Passage last summer. What are these people talking about?
A coal-carrier went from Vancouver to Finland last year. But these article are mainly about how unready for potential traffic the U.S. & Canadian authorities are. The “North East” route is a different matter.
From a couple of sources on the 2013 season —
Seventy-one ships completed “transits,” or complete journeys between the Barents Sea and the Bering Strait, up more than 50 percent from last year, according to Rosatomflot, Russia’s state-operated nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, which provides mandatory escort—for a fee.
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While the Northwest Passage has seen increased activity—this year a bulk freighter delivering coal from Vancouver to Finland was the first vessel of its kind to transit—experts believe its prospects as a global sea route are far weaker than those of Russia’s NSR. Canada’s Arctic archipelago, comprised of 36,000 islands, islets, and rocks, one of the most complex geographies on Earth, is a major impediment. And the Northwest Passage lacks the NSR’s history of development.
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The Nordic Orion, a Danish-American vessel, picked up coal from a dock in Vancouver, sailed north around Alaska, through the Canadian Arctic archipelago and then south past Greenland to deliver its cargo to Finland.
The northern route was considerably shorter than using the Panama Canal. Less fuel was burned and less greenhouse gas was emitted. The ship (not limited by the depth of the Panama Canal) carried a full cargo and paid no canal fees. The vessel and its crew met strict Canadian government fitness, safety and security regulations, satisfied insurance requirements and, critically, showed that it could be done.
This was the first Northwest Passage transit by a commercial cargo vessel without help from an icebreaker. The combination of melting Arctic ice, modern technology, an experienced Canadian ice pilot and a business niche spotted by an innovative company made this first transit safe, efficient and profitable.
The fact of this successful voyage does challenge the myth that commercial use of NWP is impossible because of shallow water and ice congestion. The Russian Northern Sea Route has geography, icebreakers and strong government support, but it’s not the only possibility for expanded trans-polar traffic.
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Arctic Shipping Soars, Led by Russia and Lured by Energy
a recent report by the Government Accountability Office concludes commercial industries aren’t planning to boost shipping through the Bering Strait or elsewhere in the U.S. Arctic over the next decade.
Which tells me even Both governments in North America know the climate change BS was exactly that.That its becoming cooler not warmer. Those carbon taxes though are just to tempting to Governments even based on lies.
around 1890 they were champing at the bit, waiting for the NWP to open up, didn’t happen as the ice returned, as it will this time. It really is DIZZYING how these fools never learn their history!!!
What does canned food have to do with any of it?
While exploring the Northwest passage in the 1840s, the Franklin Expedition became trapped in the ice, and their two ships Erebus and Terror were crushed by winter ice packs. The expedition was already dying on its feet from lead poisoning. This expedition was the first use by the British navy (or any navy) to use canning for long term food preservation. Unfortunately, the cans were sealed with lead solder.
It would be great to be able to ship oil and gas from the fields off the NWT direct to Bremerhaven, passing north of Greenland…..
but for the ice.
Yes, with the icepack in place it might be possible using giant submarine tankers. There are a number of problems with
that idea, of course, and these were discussed at considerable length in the 1980s.
Actually the theory of the canned goods killing them has been debunked.
Scientists at the University of Glasgow have re-examined the forensic data collected by Canadian researchers of the ice-preserved remains of three crew members from the ill-fated Franklin expedition in 1845, and concluded that lead poisoning may have played less of a role than originally thought.
This is at least the second international study to come to that conclusion. Study debunks lead poisoning theory for Franklin expedition
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/study-debunks-lead-poisoning-theory-in-franklin-mystery-1.1396399
“We’ve put a qualification on this idea that lead poisoning is what doomed the expedition,” said professor Keith Millar of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow. He is one of three authors of the research published in the journal Polar Record.
All 129 men and officers died on the 1845 British Franklin expedition to find the Northwest Passage after their two ships the Erebus and Terror became stuck in thick ice somewhere near King William Island.
The disappearance of the expedition made international headlines and led at the time to the world’s largest search and rescue mission.
Skulls of members of the Franklin expedition were discovered and buried by William Skinner and Paddy Gibson in 1945 on King William Island. (National Archives of Canada/Canadian Press)
Research by Canadian scientists on the human remains found in the 1980s suggested that the crew were suffering from lead poisoning.
The Franklin expedition was the first to use canned supplies, and there was evidence of high lead levels in the remains, possibly as a result of lead soldering in the cans.
Millar and his colleagues took a closer look at that research and statistically projected whether all the crew would have suffered from serious lead poisoning.
In particular they examined the preserved remains of three crew members found on Beechey Island as well as skeletal remains found on King William Island, Nunavut.
They concluded that while some might have been sick, others were not.
“What is absolutely clear is many of them had high levels of lead,” said Millar in an interview from Glasgow. “What is less clear is if that was unusual given their background in highly lead-polluted Britain. And the variation across the men that we’ve estimated shows they may not have been affected at all.”
more at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/franklin-expedition-more-doubts-raised-that-lead-poisoned-the-crew-1.2490875
It’s another one of those Arctic myths like the lemming’s mass suicide.
“..nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet,”
Will Canada ever wake up?
Or are we under control of forces unknown?
U. decide eh?
dizzy says
“This was the first Northwest Passage transit by a commercial cargo vessel without help from an icebreaker.”
Sorry not correct; the article in the National Post gives the rest of the story about the Orion’s transit of the Northwest passage.
“Without them, honestly, we could not have done it nor would we have,” Edward Coll, the chief executive, told The Wall Street Journal.
For example, the icebreaker escort for any ship traveling north of the 60th parallel costs approximately $50,000-a-day, according to the Canadian Coast Guard’s Marine Communications and Traffic Services, and the government covered the cost.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/27/northwest-passage-crossed-by-first-cargo-ship-the-nordic-orion-heralding-new-era-of-arctic-commercial-activity/
http://northwestpassage2013.blogspot.ca/
For those interested in learning about sailing in Arctic waters this is great.
Follow the links on the right. It’s all there; those who conquered the passage and those who met defeat in 2013 and a list of every registered boat and skipper who have achieved something remarkable in the inhospitable Arctic.
To acheive mention on the list you have to sail from Arctic circle to Arctic circle in either direction and not necessarily in the same calendar year.
“qualification” does not mean debunked.
The CBC may exaggerate the actual report, but why should you?
“This was the first Northwest Passage transit by a commercial cargo vessel without help from an icebreaker.”
Sorry not correct; the article in the National Post gives the rest of the story
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The quote was from a Globe&Mail article by John Higginbotham [who] is a senior distinguished fellow at Carleton University and leads CIGI’s Arctic program.
It certainly seems like a contradiction. I note that the Post article says “Travelling with a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, the 75,000 deadweight-tonne Nordic Orion left Vancouver” and that “without them we couldn’t have done it ” refers to “encouragement from the Canadian government”.
But an Edmonton Journal article identifies the Canadian vessel —
“The Nordic Orion made its September trip with the blessing and aid of the Canadian government, which sent the Coast Guard’s Louis S. St-Laurent icebreaker to accompany the ship.”
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“without help” “travelling with” “accompany the ship” — I quess the question is whether the St. Laurent broke trail for the Orion.
In 2013 ice conditions were so bad the only way through was via the Bellot Straight between Somerset Island and the Boothia peninsula. My understanding of the story is the ice-breaker sailed ahead and broke trail through the Bellot Straight. That little fact was often not reported.
Your recommended source asks but doesn’t answer that question.
M/V NORDIC ORION NAVIGATED THE ICE CHOKE-POINT ON 20130921 – ICEBREAKER ASSISTANCE?
This article speculates on some political motives & includes a note —
// She added that CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent “met up with Nordic Orion in Peel Sound on Sept. 20 and provided just over 1.5 days (39 hours) of routine escort services through the area.” The Canadian icebreaker, Smith noted, “is in the Arctic throughout the season to provide services as part of its regular operations and therefore there was no additional cost to CCG for this escort.” //
It looks like the Nordic Orion sailed north and west of Somerset Island, not through the Bellot Sraight. Pleasure craft required ice-breaker assistance through the Bellot and I assumed the Nordic Orion took the same route.
In the article the author wonders how the ship made it through unassisted when the route north and west of Somerset was choked with ice.
“qualification” does not mean debunked.
The CBC may exaggerate the actual report, but why should you?
Posted by: cgh
Those who followed the link and read the research would have possibly discovered these facts:
Martin’s work, published in February in Applied Physics A, re-examined some of the bones using techniques developed since the original analysis. Martin and his colleagues concluded there was so much lead in the bones, and it was distributed so widely, that it couldn’t have accumulated during the few months the men were at sea before they died.
Nor did he find areas where lead was concentrated, as there would be if the potent toxin had only recently been ingested.
“The wide distribution and high concentrations of lead in the measured bones is indicative of long-term exposure before the start of the expedition,” says the paper.
“The lead distribution is essentially uniform as might be expected from lifetime lead ingestion. There is no evidence for a sudden massive increase in lead during the latter part of any individual’s life.”
that’s why links are provided so people don’t jump to conclusions from a few lines posted.