Arctic accelerates shipping from Asia to Europe

Yong Sheng is a common Chinese ship that is about to make history. He is the first holder containers to sail from China to Europe through the Arctic instead of the usual route south (through the Suez Canal), reducing in two weeks time regular travel.
Yong Sheng, which weighs 19,000 tons and is operated by Chinese state-owned COSCO Group, left the port of Dalian on August 8 and should reach Rotterdam, the Netherlands, via the Bering Strait, on 11 September. The journey time is 35 days, and through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea it usually takes 48 days.
The journey from Yong Sheng occurs at a time when the volume of shipping by Northern Sea Route (NSR or, in its English acronym) is growing rapidly in the face of higher temperatures in the Arctic, which have kept the passage relatively free of ice longer than the last decades.
The oil from Japan and South Korea, for example, are using the new route to transport petroleum products to lower cost.
Arctic sea ice covered 2.2 million miles in the past year, 53% less than the 4.7 million square miles in 1979, according to the National Center for Snow and Ice Data U.S.. The pace of change has surprised the scientific community, said Mark Serreze, director of the center. "It's warming up very quickly in the Arctic and I would not be surprised if we have summers ice-free within 20 years. That’s why shipping companies are so excited," he said.
The route between Asia and Europe accounts for about 15% of maritime trade overall.
Source: Revista Cafeicultura