The Arctic Is Hotting Up And It's Not Just Climate

Melting ice is stoking geopolitical manoeuvres with implications for Greenland and beyond.

- Ravi Velloor

Speaking at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs recently, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan remarked that the strategic location of Singapore, an island nation at the tip of the Asian continent, really got amplified when the building of the Suez Canal in 1869 made the Malacca Strait the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

Until then, the intercontinental shipping between Europe and East Asia had been through the Sunda Strait.

"Geography and things that happen far, far away have a profound impact on our opportunities," he mused, mentioning the record cargo and vehicle tonnage that was handled by Singapore ports in 2024.

"So we're still in that business. But we also know that with climate change, if the Arctic opens up, the shortest route will not be the Strait of Malacca. It will be the Arctic."

The Arctic is indeed opening up, and in more ways than one, attracting the attention of the world's superpowers, and prompting figures such as US President Donald Trump to want to acquire Greenland for his nation.

Increasing ice-free days in the frigid North-west Passage, along the northern border of Canada and Alaska, and the North-east Passage or Northern Sea Route (NSR) that runs along the northern border of Russia, and the building of powerful icebreakers capable of cutting a path through ice as thick as 5m are making it possible for trade to be routed through areas once considered unpassable.

A new review paper published on Feb 7 by Science magazine says the Arctic is warming at four times the rate of the rest of the planet, raising the prospect of "sea-ice-free Arctic summers" for several months of the year.