Chinese ship through ice route in Rotterdam

For the first time in history a cargo ship made its way to the port of Rotterdam through the Arctic Ocean.The Yong Sheng's journey was about 15,000 kilometers long and started a month ago in Dalian, China. The ship sailed along the Russian coast, including the Bering Sea, East Siberian Sea, the Laptev Sea, the Kara Sea, and the Barents Sea. The northern route is shorter and more than two weeks faster than the normal waterway through the south. Because the ice caps melt, this route has become more attractive the last few years. So far 430 ships have been given permission to sail the route this year. In 2010 there were only four. COSCO_Freighter
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Wikimedia commons WWF believes that agreements should be made as soon as possible about what routes may be used, what type of ships may sail the Arctic and what fuel is to be used by those vessels. This to protect the fragile environment. Since the eleventh century Russian merchants have pioneered in the area. The Dutch explorer Willem Barents was one of the many who died en route. In 1879 the Swedish Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiold was the first who managed to accomplish the grueling journey. It is not the first time a Chinese ship takes the northern route to Europe. The first was already claimed last summer by the icebreaker Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, who thus managed to reach Iceland. The German Beluga Group also managed to sail a South Korean cargo ship to Rotterdam by way of the Russian coast in 2009.