Humankind has plied the oceans for millennia. From the first log
rafts to today's high-speed "techno-superliners," we have always
relied on our waterways for sustenance, movement and the transport
of goods.

Each year, millions of tons of goods and oil
are conveyed by sea. In 1998, ships carried
enough oil for 20 million full tanks of gas.*
The weight of other goods shipped by sea was
even more than crude oil--1.5 times more! For
industrialized island nations such as Japan or
England, such ocean transport is vital. Oceans
provide relatively open and free routes by
which to move things from one region to
another. Yet, for all of its advantages, sea
transport is not cheap. It is not fast. Nor is
it completely free of restrictions. This is
most apparent in the maritime world's various
chokepoints: Malacca, Panama, Suez. If any one
of these places were to close down due to war
or natural disaster, the world's maritime
network would shudder to a halt.

To go from Tokyo to Hamburg by sea, ships currently have two
routes at their disposal. They can either take the Malacca-Suez
route or travel via Panama. It is 18,400 kilometers by the Malacca
route. The latter is much longer. Moreover, neither canal can
handle today's largest tankers or freighters. Finally, since they
are major chokepoints, there is a considerable security risk
involved with sending such a large volume of oil and goods through.

For these reasons, in the early 90's Yohei Sasakawa suggested that
research be done on a third sea route between Asia and Europe--one
through the Artic Ocean.

Of course, the chief challenge facing this route is ice. If this
can be technologically overcome, the reduction in distance between
the two regions would be reduced by 40 percent. Both energy and
time would be cut dramatically. Moreover, the extensive resources
of Siberia and the Russian Near-east could be more easily
developed--a major boon to the region and the world in general.

To overcome this obstacle, the governments of
Russia, Norway and Japan put together INSROP,
a joint research team comprised of 390
researchers from 14 different countries. The
Nippon Foundation was a major sponsor of this
effort. INSROP's Steering Committee of
Sponsors was headed by Yohei Sasakawa. Thanks
to the efforts of this team, in 1996, an
experimental voyage was successfully conducted
by freighter and icebreaker working as a team.
The ships traveled from Yokohama to Kirkenes,
Norway without incident in a surprisingly fast
time. It was found, however, that the costs of
such a scheme currently far offset the savings
generated by the shortened route.



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* Based on an estimate of 50 liters per gasoline tank.