Port Of Narvik News

Despite high hopes for Arctic business from mining to shipping as the ice melts rapidly and temperatures rise twice as fast as the global average, few firms say the sums still make sense. An oil price slump and cheaper commodities, including iron ore, together with tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine, are adding new disincentives. Examples of extra outlay abound. Ice-breaking tankers able to carry gas from Siberia cost $100 million, or 50 percent, more than normal vessels and hundreds of millions of dollars are needed to upgrade railways serving Arctic ports. Added to that, for many companies, winter darkness, ice and vast distances mean that Arctic investments are a non-starter.

Two SB-138P polyethylene buoys with solar-powered ML-140 LED lanterns from Tideland Signal are being used to mark wrecks in the approaches to the port of Narvik in the far north of Norway. The new SB-138P buoys are replacing old battery-operated steel buoys from the 1980s that required extensive maintenance and costly battery changes. They are wreck-markers for the British 8770 ton iron- ore carrier Romanby and the Swedish 8,855-ton iron-ore carrier Stråssa, both sunk in Narvik inner harbor during a World War II battle on April 10, 1940.