Well, well. Totally amazing. All these voyages of exploration had winter overs, but two big freightors navigated the NorthEast Passage in 2009
Global warming opens new Arctic shipping lane - CSMonitor.com
Moscow
Mariners have dreamed for centuries of finding a commercially viable shortcut between Europe and Asia across the top of the world. Many have died trying, but none succeeded until late September, when two German freighters slipped quietly into Rotterdam Harbor after completing a historic month-long journey from Vladivostok, in Russia's Pacific far east, through the once-impassable Arctic route.
The Bremen-based company that operates the two specially reinforced cargo ships, the Beluga Fraternity and the Beluga Foresight, that made the journey said that taking the new route saved 10 days and $300,000 per ship over the usual 11,000 nautical-mile voyage through the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, and the Mediterranean in order to reach the North Atlantic.
"We are all very proud and delighted to be the first Western shipping company which has successfully transited the legendary Northeast Passage," the Beluga company said in a statement. It plans to begin using the route on a regular basis.
The Rapid Melt-Away of the Arctic Ice Cap Facilitates the First North Pole Circumnavigation | The Santos Republic
Summer 2010 has not only seen the first large commercial convoys of cargo vessels attempting to navigate to Europe along Russias northern sea coasts. At the moment there is a race between one Russian ship and one Norwegian ship to become the first ever sea vessels to circumnavigate the North Pole unaided. It is too early to say whether these attempts succeed due to uncertainties emanating from the drifting of sea ice and the onset of new winter freezes. The sea currents and winds contribute greatly to the navigability of the North East Passage as the sea ice is highly mobile and the drifting sea ice can easily close again the sea passage that had already once melted clear.
The 2010 race to circumnavigate the North Pole is the first of its kind although the Arctic Oceans perimeter melted off the coasts of the two continental mainlands already last year. The first North Pole and Arctic Ocean circumnavigation race is between a Norwegian and Russian ships.
So, we have big freightors doing the NorthEast Passage, and a couple of small sailboats circumnavigating the North Pole in a single season, but you claim the ice is the same as it was two hundred years ago.
Once again, you are posting easily refutable nonsense.