In 2012, the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long (Snow Dragon) became the first
Chinese vessel to navigate the Northern Sea Route into the Barents Sea going from Iceland to the Bering Strait
via the North Pole. This trip encouraged Chinese officials to think seriously
about commercial exploitation of the Arctic in the belief that, by 2020, 5%-15%
of China's international trade - mainly container traffic - would use the route,
amounting to anywhere between 125,000 to 375,000 tons. Read more
