Jonathan Saul, Reuters, 9 December 2020:
LONDON (Reuters) – Ships sailing through the Arctic region’s busiest lane along the Siberian coast made the highest number of trips on record this year as a quicker-than-expected melting of ice enabled more traffic, data showed.
The Arctic has warmed at least twice as quickly as the rest of the world over the last three decades and shipping activity has picked up.
Analysis by the Centre for High North Logistics (CHNL) at Norway’s Nord University Business School showed there were 62 transits through the Northern Sea Route in the period to Dec. 9, versus 37 for the whole of 2019.
…
“The region has seen comparatively little shipping traffic compared to other regions of the world, and the necessary environmental regulation to minimise the impact of increased shipping in the region is incomplete,” said Sian Prior, lead advisor at the Clean Arctic Alliance.
“Increased shipping will increase the risk of oil spills in the Arctic, but the remoteness and lack of infrastructure will make responding to an oil spill very challenging, if possible at all.”
