Ottawa: The multiyear ice covering the Arctic Ocean has effectively vanished, a startling development that will make it easier to open up polar shipping routes, an Arctic expert has claimed.

The aviation and shipping sectors would be included in global carbon-cutting measures for the first time under a European Union proposal to be tabled at December

Aviation and shipping should cut their respective carbon dioxide emissions to 10 and 20 percent below 2005 levels over the next decade, the European Union is likely to propose at global climate talks this week.

A team of experts from the shipping ministry is reaching Paradip port on Saturday to inspect Black Rose, a Mongolian ship that sank about 1.6 miles off the coast on September 9 with 924 tonnes of furnace oil and 48 tonnes of diesel.

A global trading scheme is the most effective means of cutting carbon emissions in the shipping sector, five shipping industry associations said in a study on Wednesday.

Shipping and aviation are the only industry sectors not regulated under the Kyoto Protocol, which sets targets for greenhouse gas emissions by rich countries from 2008-12.