The MV Nordic Barents set sail from Norway to China Saturday with 41,000 tonnes of iron ore. What's remarkable is the route. The ship is steaming through the Arctic Ocean, skirting what's left of the melting ice sheet. "We're pretty much going over the top," said John Sanderson, CEO of the Norwegian mine whose ore was on board. The journey is described as the first non-stop transit of Russia's Northern Sea Route by a non-Russian commercial vessel. The Arctic short cut will shave about eight days and 5,000 nautical miles from the usual southerly route to Asia.
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