Articsea Passage not Feasible

At the House of Lords on Tuesday, shipping experts have played down talk of arctic sea routes competing against the Suez and Panama canals in questioning by the UK Arctic Committee.
The speakers acknowledged that the region will see increased traffic soon, but only as a destination point where vessels will just load and offload cargo and NOT as a transit route connecting the east with the west.
Fednav Shipping’s vice president Thomas Paterson who is responsible for arctic and projects, said: “To the question ‘is the NorthWestern passage (NWP) going to be the next Suez or Panama Canal’, the answer is no.”
Fednav Shipping’s vice president Thomas Paterson told : “It is not going to happen because it does not make money.”
Lord Fairfax of Cameron, director of Sovcomflot (SCF), said the company’s first arctic shipment in 2010 resulted in massive mileage savings. But, there are considerable challenges up in Articsea.
Up to now, only two commercial vessels have transited NWP; the 75,000-dwt MV Nordic Orion (built 2011) and the 25,000-dwt MV Nunavik (built 2014). MV Nordic Orion suffered damage costing up to $1m after crossing the route while Nunavik’s trip is still in progress.
Fednav Shipping’s vice president Thomas Paterson told that a shipment from New York to Shanghai takes 33 days via the NWP and 36 days through Panama. Why would the shipowner take the risk of a damaged vessel in order to save only three days?
Sovcomflot is mostly focusing on gas projects.As much as 25% of the world’s undiscovered resources are in the arctic area.
Regulation for using the northern shipping routes is still strict and only classified ice vessels can use the route.
Lloyd's Register’s arctic technology specialist Rob Hindley said the new Polar Code will be introduced on 1 January 2017 and it will set rules that “will encourage shipowners to think twice before entering the arctic area.”