Polar Ocean ice free this summer
Do you remember the reports talking about ice free arctic sea in 2040? And some horrific predictions calculating ice free summers in 2013? Guess what, most likely all of the experts were wrong.
Olav Orheim predicts ice free arctic sea this summer, from Siberia - the ice is thin now and it melts fast. This means that in August to September ordinary freight ships can save half the time using this route.
He points out that this is worrying since there are no disaster reduction measurements in these area. We know what happends when disasters strike fragile coasts - but we at least have some disaster reduction. The Arctic has 0. Who is willing to take the cost? If Olav Orheim is right, there isn’t much time.
When a small shipment company can save $200k on one tour, what can the major companies save?
Ships from the west coast of USA and southeastern Asia can save over 40% time going through the ice free arctic sea instead of the Panama channel.
Some might need reloading in northern Norway to tougher sihps before continuing, will the harbours be ready for this? I haven’t seen any plans out yet.
(Sources : Arctic Frontiers, NRK, Teknisk Ukeblad) (Norwegian)
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Comments
Global warming is something to be taken insanely seriously, especially with these facts, yet there are so many people that still say it is Democratic propaganda, which is complete rubbish.
Oyvind,
Tremendously interesting story! Commerce usually wins out and without a governing body to enforce safety and disaster preparedness measures, it will just be a matter of time before there is a big problem. Of course, the larger problem is an ice-free Arctic in 2009!
And people say they think it’s just a conspiracy. You’re so right Holly, it’s definitely something to be taken seriously. Hopefully, the rest of the world will catch on before it’s too late.
Oyvind, thanks so much for letting me advertise!
This is scary.
But I’m afraid humankind will just roll with the greedyness once again and think (maybe) after catastrophes have happened