Canada Ping!
Posted on 09/26/2013 12:31:46 AM PDT by JerseyanExile
Stephen Harper should lose sleep this week, as the Danish-owned Nordic Orion becomes the first cargo vessel to use the Northwest Passage as an international shipping route – at no little risk to Canada’s environment and sovereignty.
Last week, the crash of a Coast Guard helicopter in the Northwest Passage underlined how very dangerous Arctic waters can be. The three men on board were wearing survival suits. They escaped the aircraft before it sank but froze to death in the hour it took for the icebreaker Amundsen to reach them.
Although the Nordic Orion is ice-strengthened, Arctic storms, shallow waters and icebergs still pose risks. Small chunks of icebergs called “growlers” are extremely hard, float low in the water, and are difficult to spot. In 2007, the ice-strengthened MS Explorer sank during an Antarctic voyage after striking a growler. Then there is “icing”, which occurs when ocean spray freezes onto the superstructure of a ship, causing it to become top-heavy and capsize.
Canada’s Arctic search-and-rescue capabilities are desperately poor. Our long-range helicopters are based in British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Labrador: each aircraft would take more than a day to fly the 2,500 kilometers to the Northwest Passage, stopping to refuel along the way.
As a point of comparison, Russia has several search-and-rescue stations in the Arctic and is building ten more – each with its own ships and aircraft.
Canada lacks a single port along the Northwest Passage in which a vessel could seek refuge in the event of mechanical problems or a serious storm. Russia has sixteen deep-water ports along its Arctic coastline.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
So let me see if I’ve got this straight.
The “good news” is that ONE vessel got through the Canada’s northwest passage this week. OK. The writer is obviously trying to either minimize or sarcastically deny this as advantage. By the way, some 20-odd smaller vessels and yachts and “pleasure cruise” craft DID get stuck in the ice this summer north of Canada, and ARE staying over the winter in the Arctic! (Guess they believed the global warming deniers who think the Arctic is “warmer” than in previous years. )
But THREE men, from a Canadian (icebreaker-supported ?) helicopter who were wearing survival suits and cold weather equipment, DIED because their helicopter crashed trying to support the icebreaker (and commercial vessel ???) ....
The implication, of course, is that the receding Arctic ice means “death, doom, and despair because it implies that the global warming is actually present - as if anybody denies that~!!!!~ and might be a problem.
But, commercial passage means that some person, some company is going to look at the Arctic ice 6 months to 3 months ahead of loading this ship with cargo in 2014 and sending its cargoes to the debarkation port! - and say “This northwest passage - which “might be” open some single week in late September - might save me a few days shipping time compared to sending the cargo vessel via panama or Cape Horn to China with my cargo. I’m going to risk ALL of my money by sending a ship through there to save time before the Christmas buying season. “
Of course, if “I’m” wrong and the Northwest passage is ice-blocked next year, then “I’m” screwed because my cargo can’t get through and “I” have a loaded ship’s worth of cargo stuck in the ice from September 2014 through the melt season in 2015.....”
And it might not even get through in 2015 to 2016 year!
Hmmmn. What would you decoide?
Russians has about a dozen of 300+ megawatt nuclear icebreakers to secure a navigation in Arctic. Each capable to travel over 10 knots on 10 ft of ice and cost about as much as aircraft carrier.
I don’t think Canada has resources to field something like that.
Canada has long been worried about loosing their sovereignty over the arctic region.
I think it is not the first commercial transit of the NP.
That happened long ago.
Only a few years ago, they were telling us that the arctic was going to be all but ice free by now. What gives?
First bulk carrier.
According to the Northern Sea Route Information Office, 46 cargo vessels carrying 1.3 million tons of goods sailed through the Northern Sea route last year. The Northwest Passage saw 21 vessels, of which there were 18 yachts, two cruise ships and one tanker, according to the Cruising World Magazine
Canada Ping!
The ice didn’t get the e-mail from Algore.
-— Russians has about a dozen of 300+ megawatt nuclear icebreakers to secure a navigation in Arctic. Each capable to travel over 10 knots on 10 ft of ice and cost about as much as aircraft carrier. ——
Wow. Didn’t know that. Thanks.
Container ships or oil rigs are usually traveling in Arctic towed by one of these: 
Love to be a passenger on that run.
ah.
AFAIK they have offered cruises to the North Pole on these boats but the price was in a range of $20,000.
Cruise ships? Really? I don't think the Caribbean cruise industry is in any danger from this competition.
"It cost Canada’s military $2,748,046 to rescue wealthy tourists and a hunting party from a drifting Arctic ice floe this summer after planes and helicopters from five provinces were scrambled to the north."
It appears we need to add the lives of 3 brave man to the cost.
If a hunter wants to put his own life on the line to harvest a polar bear or a walrus or wealthy tourists want to risk everything for an adventure, that's fine. However, I think that it very selfish to expect someone else to risk their lives to bail them out of trouble or to not foot the entire bill for the rescue services.
Big BUMP to that.
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