Could a new Arctic shipping route solve the world's logistical problems?
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Leanna Byrne.
Falling water levels in the Rhine and Germany could split the river in two for cargo traffic and thousands of protesters in India are demanding an overhaul of government recruitment exams.
Sea Legend, a Chinese container shipping company, is launching the first regular container service through the Arctic this week.
The route will take ships from Ningbo on China's east coast along Russia's northern coastline to Felixstowe in the UK.
Potentially cutting the usual journey time roughly in half and avoiding major shipping choke points such as the Red Sea.
Sea legend has branded it the Ice Silk Road.
Michelle Wiese-Bachmann, Senior Maritime Intelligence Analyst at Windward, says it's a significant development.
This is the beginning of first regular commercial cargo services on the northern sea route.
Even though some of those container ships will perhaps only have enough time to complete one voyage, I think it's still significant.
And especially given the geopolitical underpinnings for seaborne trade, the fact that Russian oil and gas...
Is going in increasing amounts through this route to bypass some of the problem areas is really interesting as well.
So when it comes to the shipping companies and their customers, is this going to make much of a difference for them?
These are one-off commercial services that have been established with Chinese ship owners.
To go via Europe to China.
They have to go through Russian waters.
So there's only a few ship owners that are in a position to be able to do that given the current geopolitical climate.
So how reliable really can an Arctic route really be, if that's the case?
Well, at the moment, you're seeing increasing cooperation between China and Russia in the Arctic.
And China declared itself a near Arctic state back in 2018, I believe.
So the increase in commercial shipping usually has a China and Russia nexus.
And of course, in addition to those container ship routes, you're also seeing oil and gas going from Russia
From both their Baltic seaports going around the Northern Sea Route this summer and also their LNG gas that has been shipped from the Arctic projects.
They've been diverting that the long way around the Cape of Good Hope to China
To avoid the Mediterranean after one of their LNG carriers was blown up.
So this summer they're now able to send their LNG carriers around there as well.
Well, one thing that we've definitely learned this year is that
If you've got a shipping route in your waters, then you've got leverage.
So could this potentially give Russia a new source of leverage over trade between China and Europe?
Well, only in the summer.
And it depends on prevailing ice conditions.
The Russians have nuclear ice breakers that are needed in order to often pilot and help ships get through.
So the weather conditions vary.
Often dictate this is going to be the busiest season yet.
You're talking container ships going from Rotterdam to Shanghai.
You're saving 3,500 miles and maybe 15 days.
That was Michelle Wiese-Bachmann from Windward.
Sticking with shipping, a German shipping official is warning that falling water levels in the Rhine could effectively split the river in two for cargo traffic.
Jens Schwanen from Germany's Federal Association of Inland Navigation says levels at Kaub, a key point in the river, could fall below 10 centimetres this week.
That would make parts of the Rhine too shallow for commercial ships and even some cruise boats to pass.
Research led by Dr Sherish Osman at the University of Manheim, alongside economists at the European Central Bank, found that heatwaves, droughts and floods last summer hit a quarter of EU regions, causing at least $49 billion of losses in the short term.
She says shipping companies and consumers will be hardest hit.
The water levels on the German rivers are running low and this is because of the weeks of heat waves and droughts, the climate impact.
The cargo traffic is badly constrained and that threatens another blow to the struggling economy.
So this is a typical example of a climate shock that transmits into the real economy.
And this is not through dramatic destruction, but rather through friction that raises costs across supply chains.
In my previous research on regions hit by extreme weather events, we see that the damages linger, which means lower investments, firms relocating, even people moving away.
So once these shocks become regular, they reshape where the economy grows.
Which goods and industries are most exposed if this shipping is disrupted?
So the obvious answer in this case is Germany's industrial heartland along the River Rhine, where factories, they depend on river for the transportation of the raw material.
But the more important point is that these shocks are uneven and they don't really hit the country evenly.
They land on specific regions with the wrong mix, which means there is a heavy exposure to the river and few alternatives when it fails.
And also, it's not only the Rhine.
Low water on the Danube is also disrupting power generation in Hungary and Romania.
So southern and central Europe are also exposed to water.
This through energy rather than a fright.
So could those higher transport costs eventually feed through into prices for businesses and consumers too?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, this is actually the long term impact of this shock, which is becoming more a regular one.
And that changes the economics and the damages linger.
And that's much harder to reverse.
And with Dr. Saoirse Usman, economist at the University of Mannheim.
Now, with all this shipping talk, I think it's important to get an update on the oil price.
Rachel Winter is partner and investment manager at Killik & Co. Rachel, bring us up to speed.
Well, oil is up again today.
It's up about 3% to a price of $86 per barrel.
And the reason is that we had thought the US was in direct negotiations with Iran about reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
But today, the US has said it's only in partial negotiations, whatever that means.
And that has reduced confidence in that strait being opened soon.
Whatever that means.
Alright, Rachel, you stay right there.
Harry Potter fans forced a multi-million dollar power cable between the UK and Ireland to be rerouted to save Dobby's grave.
The $580 million Greenlink interconnector was originally due to run beneath Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire, where the fictional elf's death was filmed.
But after hundreds of complaints from fans, planners changed the route.
Now, Japan's currency, the yen, has fallen and that's after the US and Japan stepped in together to prop it up.
Rachel, why has it already given up nearly half those gains?
What's happened?
Well, it's likely that a lot of investors have been holding yen for a long time and it has been very weak.
And those people have likely been waiting for an opportunity to sell.
So, last week when the US intervened and pushed up the value of the yen, I expect a lot of people took that opportunity to sell their yen and that has pushed down the price again.
There you go.
Wait and see.
And we'll have to do that too.
Rachel Winter, Partner Investment Manager at Killick & Co.
Thank you so much for joining us.
That's the sound of thousands of protesters in the eastern Indian state of Yarkund marching on the State Assembly, demanding changes to the way government recruitment exams are run.
The protests follow allegations of irregularities in civil service exams, including claims that results may have been manipulated.
Police have used tear gas and water cannons to disperse some demonstrators.
The state government has now cancelled three exams and several officials have resigned.
But demonstrators say they won't stop until there's a federal investigation.
Government jobs are highly sought after in India.
Where millions of young people compete for a limited number of public sector posts.
Devendra Nathmatto is a social activist and student leader who is on hunger strike.
He says the government is ignoring students' voices.
This is the voice of the thousands of youngsters who search for their dreams through their textbooks.
This is their voice whose future is dependent on this exam.
These voices echo the hopes of several mothers and sisters and the sweat of the students' fathers.
How can they not agree to our demands?
If this government does not believe in the voice of the students, then at a global level, they will be remembered as dictatorial, autocratic and a destroyer of democracy.
And that's it from World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Leanna Byrne.
Thanks for listening.
