“MV Nordic Barents” was the first foreign flag bulk-carrier to sail the Northern Sea Route in transit. Photo: Nordic Shipping Company.
At least six convoys with oil tankers will sail the Northern Sea Route from the Barents Sea to the Far East next year, according to the head of Rosatomflot, Russia’s nuclear ice-breaker fleet, Vyacheslav Ruksha. Also cargo vessels and likely some bulk carriers will sail the route with assistance from nuclear powered icebreakers. The icebreaker fleet has so far got 15 orders for assistance in 2011.
While 2009 was a kind of test year for vessels sailing the entire route from Asia to Europe via the Arctic, this year has been the breakthrough for commercial shipping along the Northern Sea Route.
The rapid ongoing climate change is bringing vast change to the Arctic, and previous ice-covered areas are becoming more accessible for shipping. September 2010 was the first time in modern history that the Northern Sea Route was totally ice-free, with only some few places with drift ice that could be seen from the bridges of the vessels that sailed the route.
Sailing from Europe to Asia along the top of Russia’s Arctic coast takes only two thirds of the time it takes to go through the Suez Canal to the south. The Arctic lane also has the advantage of not being frequented by the sorts of pirates that lurk off the coast of Somalia.
The Northern Sea Route from Europe to Asia.
BarentsObserver has throughout the summer and autumn presented news about the different vessels that have sailed the Northern Sea Route during the 2010 season. Here is the overview:
• The two oil-tankers “Indiga” and “Varzuga”, each carrying 15,000 tons of oil sailed from Murmansk to Chukotka in Russia’s Far East.
• The 100,000 tons tanker “Baltica” was the first larger gas condensate tanker to sail from Murmansk to China.
• The bulk-carrier “MV Nordic Barents” was the first foreign flag vessel to sail the Northern Sea Route in transit (without visiting a Russian port), when it sailed from Kirkenes in Northern Norway to China with iron-ore concentrate.
• The Norwegian trimaran “Northern Passage” and the Russian sailboat “Peter 1” were the first vessels to ever sail both the Northern Sea Route and the North West Passage during one season.
• “Georg Ots” became the first ferry to sail the Northern Sea Route.
• The Norilsk-Nickel operated vessel “Monchegorsk” became the first cargo vessel to sail the entire Northern Sea Route without icebreaker assistance. The vessel brought metal from Murmansk and Dudinka to Shanghai and consumer goods on the return voyage.
• Sovcomflot tankers will sail with oil from the Varandey terminal in Nenets to Japan via the Arctic.
Read also: The future history of the Arctic is now
The increase in vessels sailing the Northern Sea Route and the prospects of huge increase in the traffic from Europe to Asia via the Arctic in the years to come has triggered northern sea ports to profile themselves as potential hubs for the future.
The Murmansk harbour area. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
In European Arctic, both Kirkenes in Norway and Murmansk in Russia have admissions to become such Northern Sea Route hubs. The same goes for the port of Petropavlovsk at Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East.
