Chinese planning trade route through melting Arctic to cut in half travel time

AN Arctic shipping shortcut could see items from China reach Britain in half the current time.

Vessels would slip between ice floes in the Northeast Passage above Russia in 24 days.

Beijing states worldwide warming means the route is navigable for longer durations– making it a contemporary variation of the ancient Silk Roadway from East to West.

On Friday, Beijing unveiled its plan stating it expects to have a “major function in expanding to network of shipping routes” and kept in mind that “as an outcome of global warming, the Arctic shipping paths are most likely to become crucial transport routes for global trade”.

The current journey to the Dutch port of Rotterdam, via the Suez Canal, takes 48 days. The sea journey might take less than half that time.

The plan to expand shipping paths consisting of the Passage– first traversed in 1879 by a Swedish explorer, Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiold– is part of a larger investment in China’s trade infrastructure.

The first Chinese cargo ship cruised the Northeast passage in 2013 and an additional 6 Chinese vessels sailed the path last summer season.

Last year, a Russian tanker travelled from Norway to South Korea without an icebreaker escort for the very first time in a trip that took 19 days.