Russian tankers that would normally carry oil to European customers are instead being rerouted through the Arctic to China.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      It doesn’t work during most of the year, though, unless you have an icebreaker and that’s hella expensive.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        The Russians do have the most bad ass icebreakers in the world. Nuclear reactor powered, absurdly powerful, able to crush through just ridiculously thick ice. They’ve only got one or two and as far as I know there’s nothing else like them in the world.

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          That sounds right. They have some cool stuff up there (Murmansk is on the list of places I might one day retire to), just probably not enough to replace warm-water shipping at a similar price point.

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          That will definitely help, and Putin has stated he’s excited about it. I’m not actually sure how long it will be until we have ice-free winters up there as well.