TABJ Sep 7 - The MV Nordic Barents, an iron ore cargo ship, is traveling with 40,000 tonnes of iron ore from Norway to China. The route through the Arctic Ocean is the first of its kind.

The ship that departed on Saturday is the first non-Russian commercial vessel to try and go non-stop through the Arctic ice caps.

John Sanderson, the Australian CEO of the Norwegian mine where the iron ore comes from, said to press, “We’re pretty much going over the top."

This Europe to Asia route could shave off eight days of travel time, which equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars.