This shipping route could cut distance from Asia to Europe by 10,000 kilometers

ET :-Aug 23, 2017, 05.08 PM IST

More than just a barren ice-land

From a distance, the northern shores of Baffin Island in the Arctic appear barren, a craggy world of snow-capped peaks and glaciers surrounded by a sea of floating ice even in the midst of summer.

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A consequence of climate change

As climate change pushes the ice a little farther north each year, it is spurring talk of a gold rush in the remote Arctic for abundant natural resources, prized shipping routes and business opportunities in tourism and fishing.

But experts say there remain many obstacles to reaping the riches once blocked by the ice.

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The new arctic route

Take a look on how this shipping route could cut distance from East Asia to Western Europe by 10,000 kilometers, where researchers, specialising in Arctic development, look at the region on a month-long journey aboard the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica.

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An unexplored treasure-trove

The Arctic, including the fabled Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific, is among the last regions on earth to remain largely unexplored.

In April, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reverse Obama-era restrictions on oil drill

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New opportunities

The geography also opens up new opportunities.

Sailing through the Northwest Passage could potentially cut the distance from East Asia to Western Europe by more than 10,000 kilometers, compared with the traditional route through the Panama Canal, offering enormous fuel savings.

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Hazards involved

However, rising temperatures might make operations harder because moving floes are less predictable than unbroken sheets of ice.