Latest / Journey to the Fringe / Fringey mini: Ice to Meet EU

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Fringey mini: Ice to Meet EU · Journey to the Fringe

• 0:00
  Okay, Chelsea, no option on this one. I think
• 0:03
  this is something that should be known by pretty
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  much everybody that I don't think anybody really
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  has seen yet. Okay. I know this kind of just
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  slipped by. It's not that old. So this article
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  comes from Reuters on October 14th, 2025. Written
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  by, it says Reuters, but that seems like somebody
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  who can't write. But that's what it says. Article
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  title. Chinese freighters have EU delivery time
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  on maiden Arctic voyage to UK. This comes from
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  the Beijing office on October 14th of Reuters.
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  A Chinese container ship has completed a pioneering
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  journey through the Arctic to a UK port, state
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  -run news agency Xinhua reported, cutting in
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  half the usual transit time for the electric
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  vehicles and solar panels aboard destined for
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  Europe. The Istanbul Bridge's maiden voyage,
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  originally expected to take 18 days, was delayed
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  by two days due to a storm off the coast of Norway,
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  but the ship still reached Europe earlier than
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  the 40 -50 days it takes freighters going through
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  the Suez Canal or around the Cape of Good Hope.
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  The new northern route, running entirely through
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  Arctic waters and within Russia's exclusive economic
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  zone, can now be navigated by ships due to global
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  warming. china is exploring speedier maritime
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  links with the european union the world's third
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  largest economy while in the middle of a costly
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  trade war with the united states the world's
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  biggest consumer market The push reflects Beijing's
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  need to diversify its export market to sustain
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  growth in an economy heavily dependent on selling
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  its manufactured goods overseas. Exports to Europe
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  rose an annual 14 % in September. Chinese customs
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  data shows while shipments to the US fell 27
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  % over the same period. Over the past four decades,
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  the Arctic has warmed about four times faster
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  than the global average, resulting in a dramatic
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  reduction in sea ice and creating seasonal windows
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  for commercial shipping. but weather and sailing
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  conditions along the Arctic Passage can be unpredictable.
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  Carrying about 4 ,000 containers from the Chinese
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  port of Zhaoshan, the Istanbul Bridge docked
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  in Felixstowe? I have no idea. Britain's largest
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  container port. How do I have a harder time with
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  the English port than the Chinese port? It's
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  so tricky. On Monday, Anne was scheduled to make
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  stops in Germany, Poland, and Netherlands, and
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  Xinhua said, The ship is operated by Chinese
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  -controlled container line Sea Legend, it said,
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  and the company did not immediately respond to
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  a Reuters request for comment. In recent years,
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  Beijing has deepened maritime cooperation with
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  Russia in Arctic waters as China seeks an alternative
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  shipping route to reduce its dependence on the
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  Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia. Now, Chelsea,
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  the reason I wanted to talk about this, because
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  there's a ton of implications in this. The first
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  in... biggest one is that this is a very real,
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  very tangible experience of global warming. Yeah,
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  it sounds like it. This is something that has
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  always been shut off as a way you can ship because
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  the sea ice has always been blocking it. I wanted
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  to make sure that I wasn't misunderstanding.
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  No, that's the biggest thing, like why it's such
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  a big deal that this has happened. Yeah. But
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  geopolitically, this is huge for a bunch of different
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  reasons. One, if this opens up, all of this is
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  going to go through Russian territory, Russian
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  Ocean territory, which is huge. Yeah. Is that
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  something that people necessarily want right
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  now? What is going on politically with Russia
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  right now? I guess that's what you're saying.
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  Well, not necessarily, but this gives Russia
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  huge power if this is something that China wants
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  to explore. And guess what? China does want to
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  explore it because pretty much all of its trade
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  goes through, like they said, the Strait of Malacca,
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  which I think is right beside Singapore. And
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  it's like a super narrow area of land that is
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  controlled by other countries that could shut
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  it off if they wanted to. And not to mention
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  that, like they said, even if they wanted to
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  go the normal route, this is about a third the
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  time or a half the time of the normal route to
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  get to Europe. Yeah, I mean, when you say it
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  that way, I mean, profit over people, right?
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  Whatever's the easiest. Everything. It doesn't
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  matter what that other word is. Profit over,
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  just insert any word you want. Profit over literally
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  anything. And it's such an interesting article
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  for discussion because not only the politics,
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  but obviously global warming. Warming is coming
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  into play with it. And I think even environmentally,
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  along with global warming, is what is it going
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  to do to the marine life up there and the oceans
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  where it's been basically untouched for how long?
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  And what are the implications? It's kind of untouched
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  because there's a few things that the Russians
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  were doing up there, particularly during the
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  Cold War, what's a nuclear subs that have really
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  damaged the until now frozen environment. So
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  it could be kind of contained, which is cool.
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  to be a bit of a disaster we have to talk about
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  but also too you make a fine point arctic wildlife
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  is not used to having to deal with boats so like
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  the elusive narwhal the unicorn of the sea it's
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  never had to battle um i shouldn't say battle
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  but it's never had to take up the same space
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  as a cargo ship yeah and i even wonder if say
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  um this might even end up being like the next
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  cruise destination that's exactly what i was
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  thinking yeah the post -arctic cruise i mean
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  cruiser yes probably i would not doubt it though
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  you won't find a lot of cruises going to russia
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  right now but cruises equally as much threaten
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  the marine life just as much as you know, like
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  every other ship. Yeah. And if anything, they
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  kind of pollute a lot more because they're not
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  carrying cargo to take off. They're carrying
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  people which come with their own chemical. I
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  guess. Yeah, I guess so. They call it gray water.
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  I think that's the nice word for it. I mean,
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  that's only one of the things that we talked
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  about, but yes. Yeah. So, and that's not going
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  to help global warming in the least part. And
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  I don't know how much it's happened where oceans
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  are opening up because of, I know whales were
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  being able to hunt in places that they weren't
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  before that we've covered, but now we're getting
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  cargo ships going to places. They're hunting
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  in territories they could not hunt. before. Yeah,
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  yeah, exactly. So that's also something that's
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  pretty new and unique to the situation that an
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  implication of global warming as well. So it's
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  not going to be great. And it could probably
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  even fast track what's already happening to speed
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  things up because yeah, and that's even in those
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  areas. And even without talking about like the
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  pollution of the cargo ship, that means we're
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  one step closer to what's called a blue ocean
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  event. where we no longer have ice reflecting
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  heat away from the planet, and instead a full
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  balloon absorbing all the heat coming to the
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  planet, which is a compounding factor that would
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  just absolutely exponentially cause more global
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  warming. Yeah, which you would assume would fast
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  track it if it's already opening up for ships
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  to go there. Scary stuff. Yeah. And I guess,
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  I don't know. Don't think about it too much other
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  than, I don't know, maybe the geopolitical sides
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  of it. Because yeah, man, we're all kind of fucked.
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  Anyhow, you got 48 hours. Don't think about it.
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  Bye. Until what? Bye.