When the Venta Maersk, a ship owned by Denmark’s AP M?ller-Maersk, set sail in 2018 from Vladivostok in the far east of Russia towards St Petersburg in the west, the voyage was reported as a harbinger of things to come. It was the first container ship to head for Europe from Asia via the Northern Sea Route, through the Arctic Ocean, instead of the Suez Canal. It was speculated that, as Arctic temperatures rose and sea ice cover fell, the time and cost savings would make such trips routine.
當丹麥AP M?ller Maersk旗下的Venta Maersk于2018年從俄羅斯遠東的符拉迪沃斯托克駛向西部的圣彼得堡時,據報道,這次航行預示著未來的趨勢發展。這是第一艘從亞洲經北冰洋的北海航線而不是蘇伊士運河駛往歐洲的集裝箱船。據推測,隨著北極氣溫的升高和海冰覆蓋面積的減少,節省時間和成本將使這種航行成為慣例。