Climate change has thawed Arctic enough for $300m gas tanker to travel at record speed through northern sea route 
 
 A Russian tanker has travelled through the northern sea route in record speed and without an icebreaker escort for the first time, highlighting how climate change is opening up the high Arctic. 
 
 The $300m (£233m) Christophe de Margerie carried a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea in 19 days, about 30% quicker than the conventional southern shipping route through the Suez Canal. 
 
 The tanker was built to take advantage of the diminishing Arctic sea ice and deliver gas from a new $27m facility on the Yamal Peninsula, the biggest Arctic LNG project so far which has been championed by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. 
 
 Murmansk's silver lining: Arctic city expects renaissance with ice melt Read more 
 
 On its maiden voyage, the innovative tanker used its integral icebreaker to cross ice fields 1.2m thick, passing along the northern sea section of the route in the Russian Arctic in a record six-and-a-half days. 
 
 
 
 “It’s very quick, particularly as there was no icebreaker escort which previously there had been in journeys,” said Bill Spears, spokesperson for Sovcomflot, the shipping company which owns the tanker. “It’s very exciting that a ship can go along this route all year round.” 
 
 Environmentalists have expressed concern over the risks of increased ship traffic in the pristine Arctic but Sovcomflot stressed the tanker’s green credentials. As well as using conventional fuel, the Christophe de Margerie can be powered by the LNG it is transporting, reducing its sulphur oxide emissions by 90% and nitrous oxide emissions by 80% when powered this way. “This is a significant factor in a fragile ecosystem,” said Spears. 
 
 
 
 The northern sea route between Siberia and the Pacific is still closed to conventional shipping for much of the year. But the Christophe de Margerie, the first of 15 such tankers expected to be built, extends the navigation window for the northern sea route from four months with an expensive icebreaker to all year round in a westerly direction. 
 
 In the route’s busiest year so far, 2013, there were only 15 international crossings but the Russian government predicts that cargo along this route will grow tenfold by 2020. This link with the Pacific reduces its need to sell gas through pipelines to Europe. 
 
 “There has been a steady increase in traffic in recent years,” said Spears. “There’s always been trade along this route but it’s been restricted a lot by the ice. It’s exciting that this route presents a much shorter alternative than the Suez route. It’s a major saving.” 
 
 Simon Boxall, an oceanographer at the University of Southampton, said that shipping companies were making a “safe bet” in building ships in anticipation that the northern sea route will open up. “Even if we stopped greenhouse emissions tomorrow, the acceleration in the loss of Arctic ice is unlikely to be reversed,” he said. 
 
 “We’ve been able to sail through the north-west passage for several years now but the northern passage, which goes past Russia, has opened up on and off since 2010. We’re going to see this route being used more and more by 2020. 
 
 “The irony is that one advantage of climate change is that we will probably use less fuel going to the Pacific.” 
 
 
 
 The extent of Arctic ice fell to a new wintertime low in March this year after freakishly high temperatures in the polar regions, and hit its second lowest summer extent last September. ||||| LONDON A large freighter completed a voyage through the hazardous Arctic Northwest Passage for the first time this week, showing the potential for cutting shipment times and costs as global warming opens new routes. 
 
 The 75,000 deadweight-ton Nordic Orion, built in 2011 by a Japanese shipyard, left the Canadian Pacific port of Vancouver in early September and is scheduled to arrive in the Finnish port of Pori on October 7, according to AIS shipping data. 
 
 The ship will deliver coking coal from Canadian miner Teck Resources to Ruukki Metals, a Finnish steel producer. 
 
 "By using this route the voyage is around a week shorter than using the Panama Canal, so overall we are paying less in freight costs," said Sakari Kallo, senior vice president of metals production at Ruukki. 
 
 Nordic Bulk Carriers, the Danish operator of the ship, estimated that the route saved around $80,000 worth of fuel. 
 
 "The Northwest Passage is more than 1,000 nautical miles shorter than the traditional shipping route through the Panama Canal and will save time, fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but even more importantly increase the amount of cargo per transit 25 percent," it said. 
 
 The Arctic route also enabled the Nordic Orion to carry its full capacity, adding 15,000 tons of coal that it would not have transported via the Panama Canal, where the depth limits the size of ships and cargo, the marine operator added. 
 
 HIGH RISKS 
 
 Maritime experts said the new route could result in much lower fuel costs in transporting bulky materials such as coal but also could expose vessels to delays if icebergs blocked their path. 
 
 "Shipping through the Northwest Passage is a high-risk, high-gain strategy," said Knut Espen Solberg, a former Arctic mariner and a specialist with Norwegian shipping services company DNV. 
 
 Until now, harsh Arctic conditions have limited shipping on the passage mostly to small cargo vessels and ice-breakers, which supply northern Canadian communities. 
 
 The 225 meter long Nordic Orion, a panamax-sized ship, has a strengthened hull to cope with floating ice. 
 
 Many scientists say the melting of Arctic ice is a consequence of warmer temperatures caused by greenhouse gases emitted by burning fossil fuels, particularly coal. 
 
 In another development on Friday, leading climate scientists said they were more certain than ever that mankind is the main culprit for global warming. 
 
 As the ice continues to melt, some experts have estimated that shipping via the Arctic could account for a quarter of the cargo traffic between Europe and Asia by 2030. 
 
 Last November, Russian gas export company Gazprom made the first ever delivery of liquefied natural gas through the Arctic north-east route, sailing from Norway east to Japan. 
 
 Many maritime analysts have said, however, that large volumes of commercial shipping via the Arctic are at least 10 years away. 
 
 (editing by Jane Baird)
– Climate change has got its upside if you happen to own a shipping company. Researchers say that by 2050, the Arctic ice sheet will be weak enough for cargo ships to take the northern route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans without the aid of icebreakers, the Guardian reports. Ships with just moderate ice protection will be able to sail directly over the North Pole, making it a lot faster and cheaper to ship goods from China to Europe. Scientists, who studied seven different climate models, say it's too late to cut carbon emissions enough to prevent the change, the Telegraph reports. As big business spies new Arctic opportunities, environmentalists are campaigning to create a sanctuary in the region. The Arctic "is melting because of our use of dirty fossil fuel energy, and in the near future it could be ice-free for the first time since humans walked the Earth," Greenpeace's Save the Arctic petition states. "This would be not only devastating for the people, polar bears, narwhals, walruses, and other species that live there—but for the rest of us too," because the region's ice helps cool down the world by reflecting sunlight.