SHIPPING NEWS: The summertime meltdown of Arctic sea ice will open up new shipping routes.
Image: Courtesy of Laurence C. Smith
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The rare ships that have ventured through the harsh, icebound Arctic Ocean require reinforced hulls and ice-breaking bows that allow them to plow through dense ice as much as two meters deep, and face hazardous conditions in remote locations for long periods of time. Arctic sea ice now is melting so rapidly each summer due to global warming, however, that ships without ice-breaking hulls will be able to cross previously inaccessible parts of the Arctic Ocean by 2050. And light-weight ships equipped to cut through one meter of ice will be able to travel over the North Pole regularly in late summer, according to a new study published March 4 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Plus.
That’s good news for economic development because it offers many new and faster routes from east to west, shaving 40 percent off transportation time and fuel costs compared with shipments via the Suez Canal. But the geographic extent of trade routes across the Arctic is worrisome for scientists who study invasive species.
Ships traveling regularly in the Northwest Passage, beyond the Northern Sea Route and through the central Arctic Ocean, will likely bring new invaders to the Arctic as well as to northern ports. Mosquitoes and forest beetles are expected to survive hidden in cargo, for example. Hearty marine organisms, such as mussels and barnacles, will likely tag along as larvae in ballast tanks or in niche areas on vessel hulls. When new species flourish in a new environment they can become harmful, damaging local ecosystems and threatening native plants and animals, much as the Japanese vine known as kudzu has overrun the southern U.S. Economic costs associated with new pests have been significant—for example, the influx of zebra mussels into the Great Lakes has been estimated at $1 billion annually.
"The temptation for many new ships to enter [the Arctic] will be huge,” says University of California, Los Angeles, geographer Laurence Smith, lead author of the new study. Arctic shipping already has grown by leaps and bounds in just the past few years. In 2012, which set a record for lowest sea ice extent, a total of 46 ships—the most ever—traversed the Arctic Ocean. Thirty-four ships made the passage in 2011 whereas just four had done so the year before. For context, 19,000 ships pass through the Suez Canal annually.
Sea ice has long been a barrier to shipping across the Arctic Ocean as well as to species. Already, shipping is by far the most common pathway for marine invasive species, responsible for 69 percent of species introductions to marine areas, followed by aquaculture at 41 percent (non-native species can have more than one pathway of introduction, meaning some double counting.) The most common transport method is ships’ ballast water. Organisms can also hitch a ride in nooks and crannies on a ship’s hull, known as hull fouling. And organisms such as forest pests and mosquitoes can survive long trips in pallets and in cargo such as tires.
“Invasive species are one of those things that once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s hard to put her back in,” says climate scientist Jessica Hellmann of the University of Notre Dame who was not involved with this study. Hellmann studies the impact of climate change on invasive species and ecological systems. As Arctic ice melts, new ports will be connected and shorter passages between existing ports will lead to new opportunities for invasive species to spread, she says.
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9 Comments
Add CommentSilly article. Anyone who has ever been up there knows that the shipping season is so short and the weather so unpredictable that it is a dangerous way to ship cargo and not worth the trouble.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd the issue of species invasion is even more far-fetched. The author would have you believe that the Arctic Ocean is somehow magical and isolated from the rest of the planet. Sorry, but currents flow through there just like every other place on the planet. As to ships dumping their bilges up there. Yes, but they dump them everywhere else and the currents circulate the waste into the Arctic just as it always has and always will.
This article is a waste of electrons and utterly meaningless.
It will make way for a lot more than that--it will make way for another intelligent species to replace man!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe fast changes from Chixilub 65 million years ago resulted in new pathways that allowed mammals--including man to flourish.
Who is to say that if it heats up 20 degrees--and it can if the permafrost were to all melt--that the devastation resulting wouldn't push man to the brink of extinction and new life forms to replace us.
It happened before it can happen again.
You've got to be kidding me. No wonder you deniers are so eager to parrot fossil fuel propaganda, you have no idea what's going on outside of what they tell you. The opening of the Northwest Passage has been sought for over a century as a way to decrease shipping time and costs:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"That’s [the opening of the Northwest Passage] good news for economic development because it offers many new and faster routes from east to west, shaving 40 percent off transportation time and fuel costs compared with shipments via the Suez Canal."
Not worth the trouble my foot!
And are you a biologist and / or a geographer? Do you specialize in invasive species? How are you qualified IN ANY WAY to make such sweeping statements about the threats to Arctic ecosystems that increased shipping traffic poses? I mean, do you honestly believe you little spat of armchair science denial has more credibility than the study highlighted in this article?
Look, you OBVIOUSLY have no idea how science works. Why don't you read a scientific paper or two? I mean, I'm STILL waiting for ANY of you science deniers to present EVEN ONE scientific paper showing that climate change is not going to be bad. I mean, you deniers HAVE to be getting your info from somewhere...it would be really sad (but not all that surprising) if it turned out that all your denier info came from fossil fuel propaganda that their paid / willing dupes regurgitate onto the Internet just to fool people like you.
As the artic ice clears out due to human-caused climate change shipping over the top of the world will become a viable option. Having been up north doesn't make me a shipping expert. Are you one? There have been many articles discussing the possibilities.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEnvasive species are a global problem. The fact that ships will be passing through arctic like never before will introduce species that have never been there.
Yes, some comments are a waste of electrons and utterly meaningless.
3. sault in reply to Shoshin 11:48 AM 3/6/13 inserts an unidentified quote to the effect that....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this...."That’s [the opening of the Northwest Passage] good news for economic development because it offers many new and faster routes from east to west, shaving 40 percent off transportation time and fuel costs compared with shipments via the Suez Canal."....
Sault I feel I must bring to your attention that there is another Sault posting on these very pages. That Sault belittled my suggestion that oil sands product could and likely eventually would be exported through ports in the Arctic region. That Sault claimed that shipping in the region was possible for only three months out of the year if that.
Northern, it hurts when my camomile tea spurts out of my nose. LOL.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI do believe you are missing the point. More open water, longer. Now, can you guess why?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot just Polar Bears, Musk Oxen, Walruses, Seals, and Inuit, eh?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this8. Happy Hal 11:01 PM 3/11/13 writes...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this...Not just Polar Bears, Musk Oxen, Walruses, Seals, and Inuit, eh? ...
That is the entire comment. Since it has no direct connection to previous comments I have no idea what is intended by it.