‘The world order could start to evolve from the Arctic’: Trump, thin ice and the fight for Greenland’s Northwest Passage
‘The world order could start to evolve from the Arctic’: Trump, thin ice and the fight for Greenland’s Northwest Passage
Share:
While the US president seems hellbent on securing Greenland, local experts advise that achieving control of its potentially lucrative shipping route will be no mean feat. If shipping boss Niels Clemensen were to offer any advice to Donald Trump or anyone else trying to get a foothold in Greenland, it would be this: “Come up here and see what you are actually dealing with.”.
![[A man in a fishing boat at the edge of solid ice]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6108aa819a00babd7d12a9277a8cdde9472f5dfa/0_0_4724_3149/master/4724.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Sitting on the top floor of his beamed office in Nuuk harbour, where snow is being flung around by strong winds in the mid-morning darkness outside and shards of ice pass by in the fast-flowing water, the chief executive of Greenland’s only shipping company, Royal Arctic Line, says: “What you normally see as easy [setting up operations] in the US or Europe is not the same up here.” As well as the cold, ice and extremely rough seas, the world’s biggest island does not have a big road network or trains, meaning everything has to be transported either by sea or air. “I’m not saying that it’s not possible. But it’s going to cost a lot of money.”.
![[Vittus Qujaukitsoq sitting at a desk behind a microphone.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/71e620f1949e2fac57edfbd48deff56d1f937ef6/32_690_1424_1780/master/1424.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
With the potential to slash shipping times between Europe and Asia by thousands of miles – or as much as two weeks – the opening up of the Northwest Passage as the Arctic ice melts is viewed by some as an upside of the climate crisis and one of the main reasons Trump has taken such an interest in Greenland.
![[An icebreaker ship in a port.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ea8d8c59ec5209db4acfb1b93c5176411cdc4fdc/0_0_5868_3912/master/5868.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
