Coal freighter traverses Northwest Passage

Today, a sea freighter capable of carrying 75,000 tons of cargo is traversing the Northwest Passage.  The Nordic Orion is carrying coal from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Finland.  Does this trip illustrate a new trend?

The traditionally ice-bound Northwest Passage across the Arctic edge of the North American continent is increasingly ice-free during summer months.  For shippers, the route offers a significant savings in distance, fuel, and cost compared to alternatives.  For example, cargo shipments between the west coast of Canada and northern Europe can cut off over 1,000 nautical miles by taking the Northwest Passage instead of the Panama Canal.  This saves time and money, and enables ships to carry more cargo (and less fuel) per trip.  It can also reduce carbon dioxide emissions associated with the shipping industry.

The Nordic Orion's cargo - coal - highlights another trend.  If the Northwest Passage becomes practical as a shipping route, Canadian west-coast ports become that much closer to markets in Europe and elsewhere along the Atlantic.  Plans to increase U.S. coal exports from Pacific ports are facing headwinds, but the economics of Canadian exports may improve if coal can be shipped east through the Northwest Passage.

At the same time, transit routes through the Northwest Passage come with risks, including icebergs, less well-mapped hazards, and local impacts to the Arctic environment.  Royal Dutch Shell PLC's aborted attempts to drill for oil in U.S. Arctic waters in 2012 illustrate some of these hazards.

Will cargo traffic through the Northwest Passage continue to increase?  How will it affect global markets?  What impacts will it have to the Arctic?

March 1, 2011 - solar ships

For millennia, humans have used renewable energy to propel ships over the oceans.  The winds that have filled the sails of hundreds of generations' most technologically advanced vessels gained their power from the Sun's radiation shining on land and sea, creating temperature differentials that in turn caused the winds to blow.  Archaeological evidence suggests that the first sailboats may have been used by the Egyptians over 6,000 years ago.  Sail technology may have arisen in multiple separate regions of the world over time, but whoever was responsible for the first sailboats clearly started something big: harnessing renewable energy to move people and cargo over the water.

Photo: winter in Northeast Harbor, Mount Desert Island, Maine.

 Sailcraft still ply the world's waters of course, though the development of commercially-viable steam engines in the 18th century significantly changed the course of ship design and technology.  Naval engineers and marine architects continue to make advances in sailcraft design, using new materials and new design tools to create faster and more efficient vessels.  At the same time, a new kind of renewable propulsion system is arising: solar-powered ships.

As you read this, the 100-foot MS Turanor PlanetSolar has crossed the Atlantic, traversed the Panama Canal, and is well under way across the Pacific in its bid to be the first solar-powered vessel to circumnavigate the globe.  Constructed by Knierim Yacht Club, in Kiel, Germany, the PlanetSolar uses 537 m² of solar PV panels to generate up to 93.5 kW of power - about 125 hp.  The solar PV panels have an efficiency of 18.8%, and are linked to six 388-volt lithium ion batteries with an aggregate storage capacity of 2910 amp-hours (Ah).  (Compare the current Toyota Prius hybrid drive battery, which has a nominal capacity of 6 Ah.)