スエズ運河の「代替ルート」　ロシア、北極海航路をＰＲ

【モスクワＡＦＰ＝時事】ロシアは25日、エジプトのスエズ運河で大型コンテナ船が座礁し、航路がふさがれている機会を捉えて、「代替ルート」として北極海航路をアピールした。（写真はスエズ運河をふさぐコンテナ船「エバーギブン」。米衛星画像企業プラネット・ラブズ提供）
　日本企業が所有するパナマ船籍のコンテナ船「エバーギブン」は２３日、スエズ運河で砂嵐に巻き込まれて座礁。地中海と紅海を結び、世界の海上貿易の１０％以上を占める航路が遮断された。
　ロシア国営エネルギー企業ロスアトムは２５日、スエズ運河航路の代替ルートとして北極海航路を検討すべきだと主張した。
　ロシアは、北極海航路の開発に多額の投資を行ってきた。同航路を利用すれば、アジアまでの航海日数を従来のスエズ運河航路よりも短縮できる。
　気候変動による氷の減少を受けて、ロシア政府は北極海航路を使って石油やガスの輸出を計画している。
　ロシアの気象当局は２５日、北極海航路の２０２０年の海氷量は「過去最低水準」だったと発表した。夏の終わりには海氷がほぼなくなる年もあるという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/03/26-11:55）

Russia cheekily pushed the Northern Sea Route Thursday as an alternative to Egypt's Suez Canal after a huge container ship blocked the busy shipping lane.
President Vladimir Putin has long promoted the passage along the country's Siberian coast as a rival to the Suez Canal, and Russia seized on the Egyptian route's traffic jam to play it up again.
The Japanese-owned, Panama-flagged MV Ever Given got stuck Tuesday during a sandstorm, blocking the waterway that connects the Mediterranean with the Red Sea and which handles more than 10 percent of global maritime trade.
Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom on Thursday gave three tongue-in-cheek reasons to consider Northern Sea Route as a viable alternative to the Suez Canal Route.
The first reason, Rosatom said on its English-language Twitter account, was that the Arctic passage provides way more space to draw peculiar pictures using your giant ships.
Rosatom included a link to a news article that reported that a tracking map showed the giant ship had made the shape of male genitals before becoming stuck.
If ships get stuck in the Northern Sea Route, it would send ice-breakers to help dislodge them, said the state nuclear agency, which is the passage's official infrastructure operator.
Rosatom also posted an animated image from the Austin Powers series depicting its main character stuck in a shuttle car reversing back and forth in a narrow tunnel -- photoshopped with the Panama-flagged vessel.
You might get stuck in the Suez Canal for days, the nuclear agency said.
A Dutch salvage firm that has sent experts to help move the Suez ship said Wednesday that recovering it could take days or weeks.
Russia has invested heavily in the development of the Northern Sea Route that allows ships to cut the journey to Asian ports by 15 days compared with the conventional route through the Suez Canal.
As the route becomes increasingly free of ice, Moscow is planning to use it to export oil and gas to overseas markets.