China is increasingly active in the polar region, becoming one of the biggest mining investors in Greenland and agreeing a free trade deal with Iceland. In 2013, the Arctic Council admitted emerging powers China and India as observers.

Shorter shipping routes across the Arctic Ocean would save Chinese companies time and money. For example, the journey from Shanghai to Hamburg via the Arctic route is 2,800 nautical miles shorter than going by the Suez canal.

China’s Maritime Safety Administration this month released a 356-page guide in Chinese offering detailed route guidance from the northern coast of North America to the northern Pacific, the China Daily said.

“Once this route is commonly used, it will directly change global maritime transport and have a profound influence on international trade, the world economy, capital flow and resource exploitation,” ministry spokesman Liu Pengfei was quoted as saying.

Chinese ships will sail through the Northwest Passage “in the future,” Liu added, without giving a timeframe.

The route would also be strategically important to China, another ministry official, Wu Yuxiao, told the paper.

“Many countries have noticed the financial and strategic value of Arctic Ocean passages. China has also paid much attention,” Wu said.

He pointed to risks, such as lack of infrastructure and possible damage by ice and unpredicatble weather.

“As sea ice has declined due to global warming, Arctic navigation has increasing possibilities. That’s why we need guidance for ships with the Chinese flag.”

Melting sea ice has spurred more commercial traffic and China has sought to become more active in the Arctic, where it has said it has important interests.

Chinese ships, even merchant vessels, using the Northwest Passage could raise eyebrows in Washington.

https://www.adn.com/article/20160419/china-wants-ships-use-faster-arctic-route-opened-global-warming

El Canal de Panamá se inaugurará oficialmente un día antes, el 26 de junio, con una ceremonia a la que están invitados más de 70 jefes de Estado de todo el mundo.

El día 26 cruzará por la vía interoceanica un único buque comercial con carga, que aún no ha sido escogido por la ACP y que tiene que decidir si lo hace mediante una subasta o a través de una rifa.

La ACP puso en disposición este lunes,18 de abril de 2016, cupos de tránsito para buques neopanamax por medio del Sistema de Reservación, para tránsitos a partir del lunes 27 de junio de 2016, al finalizar el primer período de competencia para cupos se le otorgó al Linden Pride  el privilegio de utilizar la vía interoceanica antes que los demás navíos.

El Linden Pride tiene una eslora de 754.59 pies y una manga de 120.08 pies, y representado por la agencia naviera Norton Lilly International (Panama), S.A., y transportará gas natural licuado (GNL) es una de las oportunidades de negocio que se abren con la ampliación de la ruta acuática.