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The onset of global warming could lead to a surge in commercial shipping accross the Northern Sea Route and potentially enable operators to save millions of dollars in bunker fuel costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a consequence.

German firm Beluga Shipping GmbH has begun to operate a commercial transit of the Northern Sea Route, also known as the the Northeast Passage, which is said to have saved the operator around 300,000 euros per vesel in fuel costs and also led to a reduction in emissions.

With Arctic ice melting at a rapid rate, this has led to ships being able to navigate the Northern Sea Route without the assistance of icebreakers during the warmer part of the year.

Several seaports along the route are now ice-free all year round. They include, from west to east, Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula, Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka, and Magadan, Vanino, Nakhodka and Vladivostok on Russia's Pacific seaboard.

The MV Beluga Fraternity began its first commercial voyage across the Northern Sea Route on September 12th 2009.

Commenting on the company's decision to use the route, Verena Beckhusen, spokeswoman for Beluga Shipping GmbH told Russia Today “If we had taken the southern way – let’s say for example from South Korea to a European port then the voyage time would have been 32 days. Using the Northern Sea Route it would only be 23 days; that is, nine days less. Therefore if you have less voyage time, obviously you need a lesser tanker of fuel in order to go from the port of loading to the port of destination and the port of discharging. And therefore, by using a lesser tanker you can also reduce the emission.”

Niels Stolberg, President and CEO of Beluga Shipping GmbH added in a company statement: "By the completion of the Northeast-Passage transit and previously the safe discharging of the cargo in a rather remote area in Siberia, we have opened the gate to a seaway which will further gain in importance in the future. The savings of voyage costs to a total amount of about 300,000 Euro for each multipurpose heavy lift project carrier of the F-class, later about 600,000 Euro for each travelling vessel of our new Beluga P-class, are a major achievement particularly in times that have become economically more difficult. With regard to the global CO2 balance we are able to reduce the bunker consumption and cut down the environmentally harmful emissions by using the Northern Sea Route”.