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Polar Sea Lane May Compete with Suez Canal
(Bloomberg) Chris Jasper - Polar shipping lanes that are opening up with the retreat of ice in the Arctic Ocean are attracting more traffic. A Chinese vessel docked in Rotterdam on Sept. 10 after sailing from Taicang City, near Shanghai, via the Arctic. Taking a polar route cut the journey by nine days, compared with traveling via the Suez Canal. Recent sailings involved ice-resistant models that still must be escorted by Russian icebreakers. Nevertheless, turmoil in Egypt combined with pirate attacks off Somalia and in the Malacca Strait are calling into question the security of the Suez route used by 18,000 ships each year.