A Forgotten Soviet Waterway Could Give China a New Arctic Trade Route

A Forgotten Soviet Waterway Could Give China a New Arctic Trade Route

China, Russia and Kazakhstan are mulling the development of a new northern trade route which would use the Irtysh and Ob rivers to open access for the export of Chinese goods from Russian Arctic ports at the base of the Yamal Peninsula. Trade along the Ob-Irtysh system reached an estimated peak of 9 million tons annually in the 1970s before crashing following the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. Kazakhstan and Russia in recent years have floated…