AJ first in its ongoing daily summary item opens, "BREAKING --Mediators waiting for Iran-Oman Hormuz deal, Qatar says"
In a sense, that is old news, updated. A new spin, (remember it's a globe we live on) --
That item, in part -
Shipping companies have become increasingly interested in alternative trade routes through the Arctic in recent years as conflicts, such as the US war on Iran, restrict vital routes like the Red Sea and the Gulf.
One answer may be China’s new “Ice Silk Road”, which begins at Ningbo on China’s east coast, cuts through the Arctic Circle by running along Russia’s Northern Sea Route and then heads south in the North Sea, terminating at Felixstowe in eastern England.
In recent weeks, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the key transit point to the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, has become a no-go route for many ships as the Iran-backed Houthis target shipping linked to Saudi Arabia. That has disrupted traffic heading to and from the Suez Canal, the vital waterway connecting West Asia to Europe.
So could China’s new shipping route be a sustainable alternative, and what would it mean for the balance of power in international trade?
Here’s what we know:
Where is the new Chinese sea route through the Arctic?
Last week, the Chinese container shipping company, Sea Legend, which specialises in international trade with North Africa and Turkiye, formally announced the new route it has named the “Ice Silk Road” after China’s historic Silk Road route with Europe.
The company carried out a test voyage along the route last October. According to a report then by China’s Xinhua news agency, the voyage took 20 days, offering an advantage over other routes through the Suez Canal, which take about 40 days; or around the Cape of Good Hope in Southern Africa, which takes about 50 days.
Following the test run, Li Xiaobin, Sea Legend’s chief operating officer, said the new route is particularly suitable for heat-sensitive and time-critical cargo, such as lithium-ion batteries and photovoltaic products (which convert light into electricity using semiconductors) because of the low temperatures and relatively short distance.
This image, imagine if not now soon, Norwegian North Sea oil, to China, that route. It is but one idea. Also, there would be the alternate route to Europe, through Canadian waters, past Greenland - which likely is a part of Trump getting an erection every time somebody says, "Greenland."
Global Warming being real and not stopping, China has its two route options, but either must pass through the Bering Strait. If Oman and Iran cut a deal that sticks, re Hormuz, would not a Russia - US deal on the Bering Strait be a matter of time? Perhaps that may be why Trump, loud on most things, is relatively quiet about the Oman - Iran talks? No big sabre rattling on that being out of character. If Hormuz goes the route of tolls, Bering might be a payoff to US following suit.
Search = strait of malacca deal -- is suggested by where the bottlenecks are, and what's up with them.
That searh returned: