South Korea to send first trial container ship through Arctic route

BUSAN — South Korea was set Saturday to send its first trial container through the Arctic, as the Middle East war rattles global shipping, while environmental groups warned the route could accelerate polar ice melt. The Middle East conflict, sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, has roiled global shipping, sending governments and shipping firms scrambling to seek alternative routes. Sailing from Busan New Port, the container ship — the PanStar Acro — will sail to Europe via the Arctic, testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable. "The ship will depart at 8 p.m. (1100 GMT) today unless there are unforeseen circumstances, such as bad weather," an oceans ministry official told AFP on Saturday. The ship will leave for Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Gdansk in Poland before returning, with the voyage expected to take about 45 days, according to the ministry. The voyage follows that of the Chinese container ship Dubai Tower, which left the eastern port city of Ningbo for Europe this month, heading north through the Beri

BUSAN — South Korea was set Saturday to send its first trial container through the Arctic, as the Middle East war rattles global shipping, while environmental groups warned the route could accelerate polar ice melt. The Middle East conflict, sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, has roiled global shipping, sending governments and shipping firms scrambling to seek alternative routes. Sailing from Busan New Port, the container ship — the "PanStar Acro" — will sail to Europe via the Arctic, testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable. "The ship will depart at 8 p.m. (1100 GMT) today unless there are unforeseen circumstances, such as bad weather," an oceans ministry official told AFP on Saturday. The ship will leave for Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Gdansk in Poland before returning, with the voyage expected to take about 45 days, according to the ministry. The voyage follows that of the Chinese container ship "Dubai Tower," which left the eastern port city of Ningbo for Europe this month, heading north through the

South Korea was set Saturday to send its first trial container through the Arctic, as the Middle East war rattles global shipping, while environmental groups warned the route could accelerate polar ice melt.

South Korea on Saturday was set to send its first trial container through the Arctic as the Middle East war has rattled global shipping – sending governments and shipping firms scrambling to seek alternative routes. Environmental groups have warned that growing traffic along the shorter route could accelerate Arctic sea ice loss already driven by global warming.