Monitoring press freedom and international affairs from Mid-Missouri Public Radio and the Missouri School of Journalism

Arctic shipping grows as ice melts

23 November 2017
Canadian Coast Guard Capt. Victor Gronmyr looks out over the ice covering the Victoria Strait as the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica traverses the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago July 22, 2017. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

For hundreds of years, European explorers sought a direct sea route from Europe to Asia. Now as Arctic ice melts, just such a route is opening across northern Russia. 

In August a Russian-owned tanker carrying liquefied natural gas made the trip from Norway to South Korea - the first time a ship of this kind did so without an icebreaker. Though the route is still closed by ice much of the year, the ice is thawing rapidly - and Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes it will transport lots of Russian oil and gas and eventually become "the Suez of the north."

On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at the future of the Arctic and how rising temperatures will bring not just changes in the environment but in trade as well. 

 

Joining the program: 

  • Karen Thomas, editor of the trade publication LNG World Shipping.
  • Ed Struzik, a fellow at Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy at Queen's University in Canada.
  • Alexey Knizikov, extractive industries environmental policy officer at the World Wildlife Fund's Russia affiliate.
  • Ryan Uljua, research associate, The Arctic Institute. 


Assistant producers: Maria Callejon, Denitsa Tsekova, AnnMarie Welser, Yanqi Xu

Supervising producer: Rachel Foster-Gimbel

Visual editor: Aleissa Bleyl

Animations: Jonah McKeown

Monitoring press freedom and international affairs from Mid-Missouri Public Radio and the Missouri School of Journalism.
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