How an icy shipping route at the top of the world is bringing China and Russia together

By Simone McCarthy – CNN World

Beijing/Hong Kong —  

Ice was still heavy on the water when the hulking Christophe de Margerie tanker set off on the first journey of the season along the Northern Sea Route in late May.

It had just stopped at a port connected to Arctic LNG-2, a US-sanctioned liquefied natural gas facility deep in the Russian Arctic, shipping data shows. From there, led most of the way by an icebreaker, the tanker lumbered through thousands of miles of Arctic waters and the Bering Sea.