Ship transits through Arctic, halving travel time

A container vessel has set sail for Europe through the Arctic, part of new weekly service on a route that cuts shipment times in half but which environmental groups warn could speed up the melting of polar ice.

The Dubai Tower (pic) left the port city of Ningbo on Saturday evening heading north, where it will pass through the Bering Strait, then turn west through the frigid waters along Russia’s northern coast.