"Freighter Makes First-Of-Its-Kind Transit Of Northwest Passage"

"A Danish shipping company announced Friday the first-ever voyage of a large commercial freighter through the Northwest Passage -- a journey made possible by the disappearance of Arctic ice due to global warming.



The 75,000 ton Nordic Orion, en route from Vancouver, Canada, to a port in Finland, completed the polar portion of the route this week. The freighter is scheduled to arrive at its destination, the Finnish port of Pori, on Oct. 7, according to Reuters. The ship is delivering coal to Ruukki Metals, a Finnish steel producer.

The news comes as a U.N.-assembled panel of scientists on Friday concluding that human activity 'has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.'"

Scott Neuman reports for NPR's The Two-Way blog September 27, 2013.

SEE ALSO:

"WATCH: Why Is Arctic Sea Ice Disappearing?" (Mother Jones)

"Big Freighter Traverses Northwest Passage for 1st Time" (Reuters)

Source: NPR, 09/30/2013