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News: Tourism and coal transport hindered by drift ice
By the end of June almost all ice on the west coast of Svalbard had
disappeared. However, during the first weeks of July ice began to drift around the southern tip of Svalbard and blocked the entrance to Longyearbyen, the largest settlement on Svalbard; and the coal shipping harbour Kapp Amsterdam.
(See ice chart from June 30th)
On the 28th of July nine cruise ships with between 4000 and 5000 tourists
had cancelled their visit to Longyearbyen. None of the ships were classified
for sea ice. This meant the loss of income for harbour authorities, tourist
operators,
and shops. Several PanMax ships had to wait for several weeks before they
could gain access to the coal harbour resulting in a loss of about 1.2
M€ for
Stor Norske Spitsbergen Coal Company.
Source: Svalbardposten, no.29 (23 July 2004) and no.30 (30 July 2004)
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Ice in Longyearbyen harbour
Click to view full size.
Photo: Øystein Wiig. |
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