New Undersea link to Japan, Europe via Northwest Passage
In the 15th century, European traders that hoped to reach Asia had problems: a round trip by land or sea took years and involved many lethal perils.
Navigators of the day therefore imagined sailing the “Northwest Passage,” a route across the Atlantic, then over the top of North America, before sliding south to Japan.
Sadly, ice is seldom absent at the far northern latitudes the Passage occupies.
Nor is there a simple route through the glacier-carved archipelago atop Canada.
Navigating the Passage therefore proved impossible for four hundred years, failed attempts like the Franklin Expedition became maritime lore*, and the route turned out to be so finnicky it’s not commercially viable.
In the 21st century, Europeans have a similar problem: network latency between northern Europe and Asia is uncomfortably long.
So Finnish company Cinia and US telco infrastructure company Far North Digital have agreed to build a submarine cable named the Far North Fiber that traverses the Passage.
One end of the cable will be in Japan, and it will touch Alaska and the Canadian Arctic before terminating in Norway, Finland, and Ireland.
The FLAG and SEA-ME-WE3 cables already connect Europe to Asia but pass through the Suez Canal and tricky spots where a determined saboteur would not struggle to find a cable.
Plenty of other routes exist, too, but require cross-connection to other cables or trips on terrestrial networks to cross North America.
Those connections add latency and complexity.
The Far North Fiber will therefore offer both a shorter trip and offer an alternative physical route.
The splendid resource at submarinecablemap.com shows us that while cables are already operating in Arctic climes, some further north than this one would need to pass, they are rare.
This cable will therefore be quite a feat of engineering if the memorandum of understanding signed by Cinia and Far North Digital comes to fruition.
The two companies’ plan calls for the 14,000km cable to carry traffic from 2025.
If that date is achieved, it will beat Russia’s Polar Express cable to market by a year.
Polar Express also uses northern waters to travel from Asia to Europe, over the top of Siberia, but will only land in Russia.
Commercial shipping has used Polar Express’ route for decades, and in recent times sea ice has become scarcer and traffic has increased.
The Register fancies that Cinia and Far North Digital will hope similar conditions make their construction efforts easier.
See more here: theregister.com
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“The first offer to open the Northern Sea Route to international shipping was made early in 1967, when it was argued that it could save thirteen days between Hamburg and Yokohama as opposed to the conventional link via Suez. Soviet cargo carriers made three demonstration voyages from north European ports and Japan. Unforeseen events then intervened. The Suez Canal was closed later in 1967 by war and the invitation for international shipping on the sea route was quietly withdrawn. The Soviets apparently did not wish to offend friendly Arab governments by offering an alternative to the Suez Canal. The Canal was to remain blocked for eight years and international shipping adjusted smoothly to using the Cape route.25 Twenty years later, the USSR was shifting its economic enterprises to a self-financing system. In 1989 shipments between western Europe and Japan were made in a new generation
Commercial Shipping on the Northern Sea Route 7 of 20,000-dwt freighters, one on charter to a German firm. The following year space was offered to foreign shippers in eight SA- 15s trading between Europe and Japan via the Arctic. In 1991 there were fifteen such voyages with 210,000 tons of cargo.26 The Northern Sea Route was again declared open to foreign shipping in 1991. Interestingly, the initial regulations, published as a notice to mariners, were issued by the Ministry of Defence. They specified compulsory pilotage and icebreaker service, and charts and sailing directions were made available. In a procedure similar to that established by the Canadian Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act, ships have to meet standards prescribed by the state and permits are issued. Igarka was opened to foreign ships.27 Further regulations and schedules of fees were to be issued in 1992” https://agbjarn.blog.is/users/fa/agbjarn/files/jandrent-northernsearoute_0.pdf
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