Russia’s Norilsk plans to invest $370m to double arctic shipments

OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the largest Russian mining company, plans to spend $370m to double its shipments across the Arctic Ocean by 2016 as global warming allows the route to rival the journey through the Suez Canal, Bloomberg reports. Norilsk will raise deliveries of metal and coal through the Northern Sea Route from Russia’s Murmansk port, near Finland, to China and South Korea, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Sergey Buzov said. The company shipped 10,000 metric tons in 2010. Transportation costs are $120 a ton, he said, less than half that using the traditional passage through Suez, location of the world’s busiest international canal.