Once, only explorers in search of adventure or scientific discovery braved the icy heart of the Arctic. But the ice is vanishing. August 29, 2008 marked a turning point: For the first time, merchant ships could navigate both the Northeast Passage and Northwest Passage, without icebreakers. This ship-friendly period in summer has been getting longer and longer ever since.

The 6,500-kilometer-long (4,000-mile) Northeast Passage leads from Asia, past Russia and Norway, and connects the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean. The slightly shorter Northwest Passage runs past Canada toward New York. Both routes cross the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean. This is only possible if ice cover does not block the way.

To get from Rotterdam to Tokyo, ships currently pass India and go through the Suez Canal in Egypt. That's about 6,000 kilometers longer than the route through the Northeast Passage. Ships travel to the US East Coast from Asia via the Pacific and through the Panama Canal. Here, too, taking the Northwest Passage cuts over 4,000 kilometers off the journey.

In 2009, the Bremen-based Beluga shipping company sent two German heavy-lift carriers through the Northeast Passage for the first time. Since then, shipping traffic in the region has increased. Still, Burkhard Lemper of the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics in Bremen says the Arctic Ocean is not (yet) heavily frequented — if only because the route is only open at certain times of year.

No climate scientist can say for sure how global warming will progress around the North Pole. But, "Everyone agrees the Arctic will be ice-free within the next 30 to 50 years," says sea-ice expert Christian Haas of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany. Researchers describe the Arctic as ice-free when ice cover falls below 1 million square kilometers in summer.

Biologists fear for the unique wildlife in the Arctic as shipping traffic increases. Beluga whales, Greenland whales and walruses, for example, could be a risk, US researchers say in a study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They studied 80 populations of marine mammals and found that more than half are resident along the Northeast or Northwest Passage.

Scientists fear that narwhals in particular could suffer from shipping traffic in the Arctic Ocean. The marine mammals stay close to coastal pack ice. The males are easily recognizable by their helical tusk, which can become up to three meters long. This is a life-size replica in the Ozeanum Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund, Germany.

Researchers and environmentalists are calling for guidelines on Arctic shipping. For example, ships should avoid the whales' main hunting grounds, fit sailing schedules around their migration, and keep noise and speed in check. "This does not yet exist in the Arctic — that's the big difference from Antarctica," Greenpeace biologist Christian Bussau says.

According to Greenpeace expert Bussau, only 50 ships pass through the Northeast and Northwest Passage each year. The German Shipowners' Association says the figure is in the double-digit range. But Bussau says time is of the essence: "In the long run, there will be a lot going on in the Arctic." So far, there are no environmental regulations for shipping in the region.

Efforts to dislodge the Ever Given, a 400-meter (1,300-foot) container ship that has been blocking the Suez Canal in Egypt since Tuesday, are ongoing as excavators remove sand and mud from the ship's bow while tugboats try to move it. Japanese owner Shoei Kisen has asked for forgiveness and said the job was proving "extremely difficult."

Dislodging the ship is expected to take about a week, possibly longer, as news agency Bloomberg reported Friday. The Suez Canal Authority, which operates the waterway, has not provided an update on when the canal will be navigable once again. The container ship, which sails under Panamanian flag, is wedged diagonally across the vital transport link.

Economic fallout began as soon as the Ever Given ran aground, with the price of crude oil fluctuating wildly. At least 200 vessels are backed up at both ends of the canal — at Port Said on the Mediterranean and Suez on the Red Sea — as well as in the canal itself, according to Lloyd's List, a data analyst specializing in container traffic.

The Suez Canal, which separates the continent of Africa from the Middle East and Asia, is one of the busiest trade routes in the world, handling about 12% of all world trade. The passage saves ships some 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles) of travel compared to the route around the southern tip of Africa.

In addition to oil, consumer goods such as clothing, furniture and auto parts are transported through the canal. Richard Meade of Lloyd's List wrote on Twitter that westbound traffic was estimated to be worth about $5.1 billion (€4.3 billion) a day. Eastbound traffic is worth some $4.5 billion. This means that about $10 billion worth of goods are now blocked.

"Every port in western Europe will feel the effects," said a spokesman for the Dutch port of Rotterdam, the EU's largest. Russia and Saudi Arabia, which send the most oil through the canal, are likely to be particularly affected. According to analysts at Vortexa, India and China are the largest oil importers using the canal. The blockade is also likely to be costly for the German economy.

The Ever Given is one of the largest cargo ships in the world. If it ends up not being possible to refloat the boat, part of its cargo may have to be destroyed. According to Bloomberg, that could mean removing containers from the ship and possibly sinking them.

According to the Suez Canal Authority, 19,000 ships passed through the canal in 2020 — more than 50 a day. Container ships account for about 26% of all traffic on the canal, which is dominated by oil tankers. In 2019, a total of 600 million tons of goods were transported through the Egyptian waterway.