With an increase of the risk of Iranian-fueled missile attacks by Houthi terrorists from Yemen, some oil tankers are being diverted away from the Red Sea route that leads to the Suez Canal. According to GCaptain.com, crude oil shipments from Russia via the Arctic Ocean may reach a new high point in coming weeks.
That means residents of Alaska’s Little Diomede, Wales, Brevet Mission, Point Hope, Nome, and other coastal communities may see a few more Russian oil tankers passing through the Bering Strait before freeze-up, as tankers race against winter. Late September is considered to be the lowest ice floe level before winter takes over. There are a few oil tankers that are designed for light ice conditions. The biggest one to ever take the northern route is on its way.
“The largest oil tanker to venture onto Russia’s Northern Sea Route, the 164,565 dwt Prisma, began its icy transit over the weekend bound for Tianjin in China,” the website reported.
Tianjin, Xingang, formerly called the Port of Tanggu, is the largest port in Northern China and serves as the gateway to Beijing. The Suezmax-class vessel Prisma can carry around one million barrels of oil, roughly same volume as the Sounion, which was blown up by Houthis last week in the Red Sea.
The tanker is said to have departed the port of Ust-Luga on Aug. 10, and should complete its trip to China in about 35 days. The Prisma is due there on Sept. 15, which puts it in the Bering Strait within a few days. That, in turn, will probably mean an increase of U.S. Coast Guard patrols.
The shorter-but-icier and possibly stormier transit time compares to 45 days for the Suez Canal route and 55 days for going around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Many other ships are taking the Africa detour due to Houthi terrorists.
“Prisma will likely be followed by up to a dozen more Suezmax and Aframax tankers this summer. Just in the past two weeks four Suezmax and Aframax tankers have received permission to travel along the route, including tankers Galaxy and Voyager. They join more than a dozen large carriers who were granted permits earlier this summer,” the website reports.
Rick Whitbeck, Alaska director of Power The Future, said “While the Biden/Harris/Walz team continues to hamstring Alaska’s resource development opportunities, our sworn adversaries, China and Russia, continue to enrich and empower each other. Alaska could be exporting LNG to the Pacific Rim, thwarting the emerging Russia/CCP advantages in the Arctic. Instead, Democrats in power wage a war against American energy and national security.”
Whitbeck called for a change in policy and leadership in Washington. “It shouldn’t be this way. A change in federal leadership is needed. If we get it in November, we’ll see the U.S. reclaim its place as the world’s leading energy provider,” he said.
More details are at this link.
And by the grace of God the new Coast Guard Ice Breaker will eventually, diligently and safely be breaking waves around Juneau in the future…. Why in the world wasn’t the home port in Nome in the first place???
Begs the questions of how many and whose a$$es got kissed and by whom for something this obviously politically inept decision to happen.
It’s not like Juneau has a surplus of housing overlooking the Bering Sea….
Port isn’t deep enough and freezes solid much of the year.
There are fixes for both, but that means sending money to Nome instead of Juneau.
Seward, Homer, Kodiak, Dutch, hell even Los Anchorage take your pick. Of course then the money wouldn’t go to Juneau.
USA should be prepping to re-activate Navy Base @ Adak.
Could also support US Coast Guard Ice Breakers.
This
Agree!
Gee, with the policies and shutdowns provided by the Biden administration, maybe we should get the Russians to send us some oil & gas, too. /end sarcasm
Great, Russian ships passing by full of oil traveling through rough seas with ice on the way. I see a huge natural disaster on the horizon. Would the Russians clean up after themselves, no, we’ll have to do it costing us billions.
The Russians are accustomed to rough seas and ice, and they still actually work for a living in productive industries with no grants and deficit spending. As far as “natural disasters” our military blowing up Nordstream in the Baltic was the largest ecological and economic terror act in history. We didn’t clean up anything.
When have we ever “cleaned up” after ourselves?
And thanks to Grandpa Bloodstains for this mess.
His administration will be like Herpes. A gift that will keep on giving and giving long after the “fun” is over.
Is that your Personal Vietnam, like your Cult Leader Dementia Donny had dodging STDs?
Energy wars are goi g to kill us all. It doesn’t matter who is conducting that war ir why; Arabs, Iranians, Russians, Venezuelans, Washington DC, Greenpeace, et al. “Alternate energy” and pie-in-the-sky “free” energy isn’t going to save us.
“the Sounion, which was blown up by Houthis last week in the Red Sea.” because our woke navy and the pathetic British are unable to deal with sandal clad tribesmen slinging missiles.
Protecting sea lanes, what a pathetic joke, we can’t even transport our astronauts back to earth, relying on “the evil Putin” to share bunk space until we can figure (maybe sometime in 2025?) out how to retrieve them.
“That, in turn, will probably mean an increase of U.S. Coast Guard patrols.” Why does our Coast Guard need to meddle with lawful international commerce on the high seas? What devious deeds are the Russian oil tankers going to do, maybe deliver quality and inexpensive fuel to our NW Arctic communities to help them through the winter? It would reduce the cost of “energy assistance” subsidies our state pays for over priced critical energy commodities caused by our dysfunctional regulations.
Reality check for Rick Whitbeck, our government is the sworn enemy of and cause of the tight relations between Russia and China. Russia requested joining NATO and provided, abundant, reliable, clean and cheap natural gas directly to Germany, what was the industrial base of the EU. We responded by provoking a war which has demilitarized us. China willingly accommodated our manufacturing corporations seeking to stiff our middle class destroying our economy. It’s our corporations, not China at fault. As we crash and burn, the rest of the world moves on.
The Houthi’s have stated they would NOT target Russian vessels in the Middle East very early on. Makes sense as they are probably using Russian anti-ship ballistic missiles, via Iran, in some of their attacks. Has something changed?
Perhaps the Houthis aren’t the threat Russian oil tankers need be concerned with. The threat that is present are the numerous US and British warships in the region. While unable to achieve basic strategic or even minor tactical military goals of neutralizing tribal warriors, they could be used to seize Russian ships, as we stole Russian financial assets. The US is known to be hostile towards and willing to disrupt essential energy supplies, as we do here at home, and abroad (Nordstream). Navigating waters adjacent to Russian territory where they can be protected along the route to Chinese markets is logical.