MAERSK LAUNCHES NEW SERVICE TO EUROPE WITH EMPHASIS ON TURKEY & RUSSIA...THAT WILL BENEFIT ECUADOR MANGO SHIPPERS...

Maersk Line Launches Ecuador-Europe Service                                           

Created by HButler                                                                                                              on 8/29/2011 5:29:20 PM

Maersk Line is launching a direct service connecting Ecuador with Spain, Turkey and the Black Sea in late September, as it targets Latin America banana exports to European and Russian markets.

The weekly ECUMED service will deploy eight ships with capacities of 2,500 20-foot equivalent units with the following rotation: Guayaquil-Balboa-Manzanillo-Algeciras-Izmit Korfezi-Ambarlie-Novorossiysk-Odessa-Ambarli-Izmit Korfezi-Algeciras-Balboa-Guayaquil.

“Investment in the new ECUMED services has been motivated by customers demand for reliable, fast and high-quality transportation of fruits, especially bananas,” said Anders Koksbang, the company’s vice president.

Maersk said ECUMED will be an “attractive” alternative to conventional reefer ships, which have traditionally served the market. It will be the first and fastest direct service between Ecuador and the Black Sea, Maersk said.

The first westbound call by the Nedlloyd Juliana will be from Algeciras, Spain, on September 25. 

The Maersk Nottingham will inaugurate the eastbound service from Guayaquil, Ecuador, on October 4.

- Bruce Barnard, The Journal of Commerce.

http://www.jocsailings.com/MaritimeNews/NewsArticleDetail/tabid/74/ArticleId/11239/Maersk-Line-Launches-Ecuador-Europe-Service.aspx

CLIMATE CHANGE OPENS UP ARCTIC SHIPPING ROUTES THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY IMPOSSIBLE...OPENING UP TRADE FOR RUSSIA...

Arctic shipping routes open

by Staff Writers
Paris (ESA) Aug 26, 2011


Detailed images and captions highlighting changing ice conditions can be found here at ESA


Satellite measurements show we are heading for another year of below-average ice cover in the Arctic. As sea ice melts during the summer months, two major shipping routes have opened in the Arctic Ocean.

In 2008 satellites saw that the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route were open simultaneously for the first time since satellite measurements began in the 1970s - and now it has happened again.

While the Northern Sea Route above Russia (also known as the Northeast Passage) has been open to shipping traffic since mid-August, recent satellite data show that the most direct course in the Northwest Passage now appears to be navigable as well.

Located in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Northwest Passage can be a short cut for shipping between Europe and Asia - but with the opening of the sea route comes the potential for both sovereignty claims and marine species migration across the Arctic Ocean.

In 2007, Arctic sea ice hit a record low since satellite measurements began nearly 30 years before. That same year, the historically impassable Northwest Passage opened for the first time.

Unusual weather contributed to 2007's record ice loss: skies opened over the central Arctic Ocean and wind patterns pushed warm air into the region, promoting a strong melt.

Weather patterns have been different this year, but the early opening of the passages indicates that we could be about to hit a new record low in ice cover.

"The minimum ice extent is still three to four weeks away, and a lot depends on the weather conditions over the Arctic during those weeks," says Leif Toudal Pedersen, a senior scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute.

"Whether we reach an absolute minimum or not, this year again confirms that we are in a new regime with substantially less summer ice than before.

"The last five summers are the five minimum ice extent summers on record."

Every year, the Arctic Ocean experiences the formation and then melting of vast amounts of floating ice, but the rate of overall loss has accelerated.

During the last 30 years, satellites observing the Arctic have witnessed reductions in the minimum ice extent at the end of summer from around 8 million sq km in the early 1980s to the historic minimum of less than 4.24 million sq km in 2007.

Before the advent of satellites, obtaining measurements of sea ice was difficult: the Arctic is both inaccessible and prone to long periods of badweather and extended darkness.

Radars on Earth observation satellites such as ESA's Envisat are particularly suited to monitoring polar regions because they can acquire images through clouds and darkness.

In the coming weeks, ESA will continue to monitor the situation in the Arctic with its Envisat, CryoSat and SMOS satellites.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Arctic_shipping_routes_open_999.html

NORTHERN TRADE ROUTES OPEN UP FROM ASIA TO THE WEST AS RECORD ICE MELTS AROUND ARCTIC CIRCLE...RUSSIA HOPES TO COMPETE WITH SUEZ CANAL...

Russia says high ice melt opens Arctic trade routes





MOSCOW | Wed Aug 3, 2011 5:41pm EDT

(Reuters) - Arctic ice cover receded to near record lows this summer, opening elusive northern trade routes from Asia to the West, Russia's climate research agency said on Wednesday.

After the third hottest year on record since 1936 in the Arctic last year, ice cover has melted as much as 56 percent more than average across northern shipping routes, making navigation in the perilous waters "very easy," it said.

"Since the beginning of August icebreaker-free sailing is open on almost all the routes," the climate monitoring agency said on its website www.meteoinfo.ru.

It added that the mild conditions would last through September on shipping lanes that are tens of thousands of kilometers shorter than southern alternatives.

With retreating ice opening new strategic trade routes, Russia hopes to make Arctic passage a competitor to the Suez Canal, profiting from taxes and the lease of its unique nuclear icebreaker fleet to escort cargo ships along its Siberian coast.

Despite higher costs, Russian state shipping giant Sovcomflot sent more cargoes of gas condensate on the Northern Sea Route this year, an ambitious move that highlights the Kremlin's drive to mark its stake in the energy-rich region.

If the current pace of ice melt continues, the Arctic Ocean could become entirely ice-free during the summer months by 2050, Russia's top forecaster Alexander Frolov predicted last year.

But mariners admit many obstacles, such as ice-floes and shallow waters, remain before the northern Russian shipping lane can take business from existing southern thoroughfares -- not least a summer that lasts just a few weeks.

(Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel, editing by Tim Pearce)


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/03/us-russia-arctic-idUSTRE7726EC20110803?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews&dlvrit=309301