
Tanker becomes first to cross Arctic without icebreaker - mcone
http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/25/news/arctic-ice-tanker-ship/index.html
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TwoNineA
CNN article fails to mention that tanker is an icebreaker.

[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/24/russian-...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/24/russian-
tanker-sails-arctic-without-icebreaker-first-time)

"On its maiden voyage, the innovative tanker used its integral icebreaker to
cross ice fields 1.2m thick"

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tantalor
You're quibbling over semantics. The article clearly mentions the ships
ability to navigate through ice,

 _specially designed to sail independently through ice as thick as 2.1 meters_

Does that make it "an icebreaker"? The 2 articles seem to use the term to
describe a ship specifically designed to break ice, e.g. "massive, nuclear-
powered Russian icebreakers", not a cargo transport ship.

~~~
stephenr
The article specifically says the tanker is designed to operate independently,
without need for an ice breaker:

> But the Christophe de Margerie, named for a former CEO of French oil giant
> Total, is specially designed to sail independently through ice as thick as
> 2.1 meters (nearly 7 feet), its owner said.

So, the article is interesting but the stated "first" seems like it would have
happened anyway, because the ship was designed specifically for the task.

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daxfohl
It's always so weird to see maps from the arctic perspective. That these
routes are all fairly close parallel lines, and moderately short by global
standards, is so strange. I remember thinking the same thing when first seeing
the ICBM routes from USSR to USA, how they just straight over the arctic and
how counterintuitively close USA and USSR really were.

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sp332
I'm really dreading the first major spill. The ecosystem up there is pretty
fragile to begin with, lots of species that don't live anywhere else, and as
the article mentions a cleanup would be impossible.

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pantalaimon
I'm afraid this ecosystem will die anyway as the ice thaws.

The fossil fuels that are transported that way will further that process one
way or the other.

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smcg
As the article mentions, this was enabled by climate change making the ice
much thinner than usual this summer.

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stephenr
Also because the ship was specially designed to break ice like an ice breaking
ship does.

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bluGill
You see headlines like this every couple years. The first ship to do this did
it in 1906
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gj%C3%B8a](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gj%C3%B8a),
and it was done again in in 1942
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Roch_(ship)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Roch_\(ship\))

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valuearb
I'm sure we'll be seeing these articles much more often than in the past now.

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jacquesm
Articles claiming it is the first have no more reason for being written after
this one.

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stephenr
Except, this was a specially designed ship that likely would have made the
journey alone anyway.

When a non-specialised ship goes through without an ice breaker will be
another first.

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JaggerFoo
So what is the record it broke? - for crossing the Arctic or a record for a
non-Arctic route?

Other than the significance of depleted Arctic ice, the significance in the
record-breaking time it took is lost on me.

Broke the record by a second perhaps?

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igravious
Second paragraph:

“The ship, the Christophe de Margerie, traveled from Norway to South Korea in
19 days, about 30% quicker than the regular route through the Suez Canal, its
Russian owner, Sovcomflot, said this week.”

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xgbi
I like how the ship is named after the Total CEO :)

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petraeus
I want free trade with Europe! btw im Canada

