by Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, from BBC News
Despite the ice, the Arctic is navigable through November
A large tanker carrying liquified natural gas (LNG) is set to become the first ship of its type to sail across the Arctic.
The carrier, Ob River, left Norway in November and has sailed north of Russia on its way to Japan.
The specially equipped tanker is due to arrive in early December and will shave 20 days off the regular journey.
The owners say that changing climate conditions and a volatile gas market make the Arctic transit profitable.
Long-term preparation
Built in 2007 with a strengthened hull, the Ob River can carry up to 150,000 cubic metres of gas. The tanker was loaded with LNG at Hammerfest in the north of Norway on 7 November and set sail across the Barents Sea. It has been accompanied by a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker for much of its voyage.
The ship, with an international crew of 40, has been chartered from its Greek owners Dynagas by the Russian Gazprom energy giant. It says it has been preparing for the trip for over a year.
To this day the U.S> never made the international maritime organization (flags of convenience), FIX the National Contingency Plan for OIL SpiLL Response In fact the 9th circuit refused to read the F.B.I. report about the M/V Selendang Ayu case that verified jurisdiction.Exxon never fixed ,SHell NEver Fixed before Going up to Arctic,m/v cosco busan ,m/v dubai star, and m/v cougar ace got away with thumbing nose at u.s. law and given a pass to continue operating under different names of subsidiaries while refusing to fix the spill response failures of exxon valdez and selendang ayu and …..al others who spilled including B.P. ..The commercial Bering sea fishermen standing by to hand braid the contaiment nets was hung up on by Deepwater horizon command center..The executive said “we have 24,000 people down here we dont need any mor” then hung up…the white house switchboard was told “no calls from general public “senator cantwell, speaker pelosi , senator murray and senator webb acted like they would assist in enforcing the law then some of them asked for money before they would do anything..senator murray
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