Patrons of glitzy Dubai bars could be sipping beverages cooled by a cube of ancient Arctic ice carved from a Greenland iceberg and shipped to the emirate — destined no longer to melt into the ocean, but into a very expensive drink.
The startup company, Arctic Ice, shipped its first container of around 22 tons of Greenland ice to Dubai this year for sale to high-end bars and restaurants. Founded in 2022 by two Greenlanders, Arctic Ice has an interesting — and controversial — business model.
It scours the fjord near the country’s capital city of Nuuk for icebergs that have naturally detached from the ice sheet. “We are looking for the clearest and thereby also oldest and purest ice,” said Malik V. Rasmussen, one of the co-founders of Arctic Ice.
Once they have spotted an iceberg they like, they haul it onto a ship using a crane, cut it into smaller pieces and pack it into insulated crates.
