U.S. Coast Guard Moves Forward with Proposed 4-mile-wide Arctic Shipping Corridor Near Alaska The U.S. Coast Guard and partnering federal agencies plan to organize shipping activity along a designated corridor to protect the marine environment and local communities. The route would lead from Western Alaska in the Bering Strait to the U.S.-Canada border in the Beaufort Sea. Survey work carried out by icebreakerHealyhelps inform the exact routing of the corridor.
World’s Largest Container Shipping Company MSC Again Rules Out Arctic Shipping, As Chinese Companies Push Ahead The same week a Chinese container ship is attempting to make a record-setting Northern Sea Route transit from China to the UK in 18 days, European operator MSC reaffirmed its commitment to not ship via the Arctic. The company cited environmental concerns and lack of infrastructure as key reasons.
Russian LNG Carrier Stops in Northern Norway’s Honningsvåg, Again Russian liquefied natural gas carriers continue to use Norway’s Arctic fjords as convenient stopover points, exchanging crews and taking on provisions. Over the weekend a Yamal LNG tanker stopped outside Honningsvåg for 18 hours before proceeding to Murmansk.
Chinese Research Vessels Enter U.S. Extended Continental Shelf in Arctic, Coast Guard Monitors with Icebreaker ‘Healy’ Chinese activity in the American Arctic continues to draw the attention of the U.S. Coast Guard. Two Chinese research vessels entering the Extended Continental Shelf now triggered a response by icebreakerHealyto monitor and shadow the vessels.
China Launches 18-Day Arctic Express Containership Route To Europe With Stops in UK, Germany, Poland A Chinese shipping company is set to launch the first liner-type container shipping route via the Arctic. The service will begin in September connecting three ports in China to four destinations in Western Europe. The country’s Ministry of Transport has begun to release live sea ice monitoring to improve safety for Arctic shipping.
South Korea To Enter Arctic Shipping With Pilot Operations During Summer 2026 South Korea will establish a dedicated Arctic shipping division within its new government and launch pilot operations next summer. The plans follow up on statements during President Lee’s election campaign, during which he suggested using Arctic shipping to economically revive the country’s southern ports.
South Korea Looking to Transform Port of Busan Into Arctic Shipping Gateway Could Arctic shipping revive and transform South Korea’s southern ports? Leading presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung believes so, touting his vision of the Asian nation as a key hub for emerging Arctic routes.
Russia to Earn $160bn in Taxes From Northern Sea Route by 2035, Arctic Region Accounts for 7.5 Percent of GDP New government figures highlight the critical role the Arctic plays in Russia’s economy. Projects along the main shipping corridor may generate massive tax revenues over the next decade and account for growing share of the country’s export and GDP.
Charting a Greener Course: The Northeast Passage and Shipping’s Future Op-ed: Global shipping faces unprecedented challenges as reliance on established trade routes like the Suez Canal exposes vulnerabilities in current trade networks. From the infamous Ever Given blockage to the increasing political risks in the Middle East, the need for exploring alternative routes is urgent, writes researchers from Nord University in this op-ed on the Northeast passage.
Arctic LNG 2 Facing Vessel Shortage as Zvezda Shipyard Delays Delivery, Japanese MOL Exits Charter Contract Sanctions continue to impact Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project. Japanese operator Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is looking to step away from the project and ice-capable LNG tankers under construction at Russia’s own Zvezda shipyard have been delayed again.
China’s Wison New Energies At Risk of Sanctions U.S. Official Says as the Delivery of Arctic LNG Power Plant Imminent China's Wison New Energies exposes itself to significant sanctions risk if it delivers the power plant to Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project, a U.S. state department official stated to HNN. Two of the three vessels carrying the massive modules have now arrived at Russia’s doorstep after a month-long voyage across the partly ice-cover Arctic.
Record Season for LNG, Crude Oil, and Container Shipping Looms in Russian Arctic Shipping activity along Russia’s Northern Sea Route looks set for a flurry of activity this summer arising from growing LNG exports, transit shipments of crude oil, and the promise of a new series of large container ships traveling between Europe and China.
Shipping Industry Must Seize Opportunity Posed by Arctic Heavy Fuel Oil Ban On July 1st, an International Maritime Organization ban on the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil by Arctic shipping will come into force. At first glance, this looks like great news indeed for the Arctic environment, and the people and wildlife who depend upon it. Unfortunately, it’s not so simple.
Greenland’s Royal Arctic Line in Murky Waters Eight years of controversial reforms within Greenland’s publicly owned shipping agency have hit a rock: The CEO is gone and an official probe into the company’s affairs has been called.
Northern Sea Route Saw Seven Containership Voyages in 2023, Including Controversial Chinese Container Ship Northern Sea Route shipping activity during the summer of 2023 included the first regular container service between Asia and Europe. But the novel service did not transpire without controversy as one of the vessels, ChinasNewNew Polar Bearis suspected of damaging the Balticconnector pipeline. Results of a Finnish request for inquiry with Chinese counterparts remain pending.
Urges the Arctic Council to Show Leadership in Reducing Emissions From Shipping In an open letter to the Norwegian Chair of the Arctic Council, the environmental foundation Bellona and the Clean Arctic Alliance urge the council to update its targets to reduce emissions of black carbon.
India Looking To Cooperate With Russia on Development of Arctic Northern Sea Route Following an initial high-level meeting between Indian and Russian officials in India in March of this year, representatives from two countries now met in Vladivostok to further discuss a deepening of cooperation in Arctic shipping and related economic activity.
Polar Code May Need Updating as Arctic Shipping Increases New Study Concludes With more ships venturing across the Arctic, especially in marginal conditions during winter and spring, Polar Code rules may have to be expanded, a new report suggests. Shipping experts also caution that Russia may not be enforcing the existing rules as it sends a growing number of vessels through its Arctic waters.
Russia Sends Oil Tanker Without Ice Protection Through Arctic For First Time In a sign of things to come Russia has sent the first non-ice class Aframax oil tanker into the Arctic. Hampered by Western sanctions a desperate Russia has decided to forgo long standing practices regarding ice-protection in an effort to reroute ever-larger amounts of crude oil to China, experts say.
Gazprom Sends First-Ever Shipment of Baltic LNG to China via the Arctic Natural gas company Gazprom has become Russia’s second energy corporation to send liquefied natural gas to China via the Arctic. In contrast to Novatek’s shipments, which use gas produced within the Arctic, Gazprom’s shipment comes from the Portovaya liquefaction plant in the Baltic Sea. This is the first time that a company has shipped gas from outside the Arctic along the Northern Sea Route.
The Sanctions Against Russia Are Determined by Our Own Needs (Commentary) Around 20 Norwegian businesses are under investigation for violating the sanctions against Russia. At the same time, Russian gas carriers anchor in Norwegian ports and fill up the Russian coffer with euros and dollars.
Norway Sees Greatest Increase in Arctic Shipping Traffic Norway leads all Arctic coastal states in terms of shipping traffic increase the 2022 Report Card finds. Norwegian Arctic waters account for nearly two-thirds of all shipping traffic in the region, ahead of Russia and Iceland.
Novatek’s Massive LNG Storage Now En Route to Murmansk A key piece for Novatek’s Arctic operation has left the shipyard in South Korea and has begun its four-months journey to the Barents Sea.Saam FSUand its three escort tugs will reach their first main waypoint of Singapore in around three weeks.
Russia’s Northern Sea Route Sees More Traffic Despite War and Sanctions Arctic shipping along the NSR saw a moderate increase to 34m tons in 2022 even though international operators shied away from the route bringing a halt to transit traffic. With Vostok Oil under construction, volume is set to surge after 2024.
French Engineering Company Exits Cooperation with Russian Shipyard A French provider of critical membrane containment systems used in Arc7 LNG carriers, terminates work with Russian Zvezda shipyard as result of EU sanction package, but says it will complete work on the initial batch of vessels. Russia may look to China for construction of future Arc7 LNG carriers.
Environmental Coalition Urges Canada and Russia to Implement Prohibition on HFO in the Arctic Environmental advocates criticize Russia’s and Canada’s decision to reject or delay the implementation of a new regulation that will ban the use and carriage of HFO in the Arctic starting in mid-2024.
International Shipping on Northern Sea Route Collapses As Foreign Companies Stay Away For the first time in more than a decade the NSR will not see international transit traffic as operators avoid Russia as a result of sanctions. Could this open the door for a new Arctic route outside Russian waters?
Novatek Increasingly Fails to Sell Gas As European Hubs Avoid Russian Company LNG giant Novatek struggles to sell its product on the European market as companies steer clear of doing business with the Russian company. Majority of Novatek’s fleet sits idle.
IMO Adopts Voluntary Measures to Reduce Black Carbon Emissions in Arctic Black carbon emissions from maritime shipping have a disproportionate effect on climate change and the environment in the Arctic. Now the IMO is taking first, albeit voluntary, steps to address the issue.
Want to Use Wind to Lower Emissions in Shipping “Increased use of wind-assisted propulsion at sea has the potential to reduce climate gases and use of heavy-fuel oil”, says Researcher Ning Lin at Nord University.
Arctic Natural Gas Carrier In Drydock to Repair Damage from Winter Test Voyage A highly ice-capable natural gas carrier suffered damage to one of its engine pods during a first-of-its-kind winter transit without icebreaker support on Russia’s Northern Sea Route. TheNikolay Yevgenovhas now arrived at a dry dock in France to undergo repairs, highlighting that Arctic navigation remains challenging.
European Shipping Companies Far More Active on Northern Sea Route than Asian Ones There are few Asian shipping companies and operators working on the Northern Sea Route compared to the number of European companies. Much more frequent voyages are also taking place between the NSR and European ports than ports in the Asian Pacific region, a new study by senior researcher Björn Gunnarsson at CHNL finds.
IMO and Arctic States Face Criticism Over Weak HFO Ban An IMO sub-committee approved a proposed Arctic heavy fuel oil ban. Environmental advocates and indigenous peoples’ groups criticized the ban as insufficient and called on Arctic states to pass stronger regulation on their own.
Northern Sea Route: From Speculations to Reality by 2035 The Northern Sea Route received its share of bad publicity in 2019 when it became a target of big logistics companies and brands that publicly declared their intentions not to use it.
Arctic Shipping Cooperation Between Iceland and Greenland Faces Legal Challenge While much attention surrounding Arctic shipping is focused on the transport of oil and gas on Russia’s Northern Sea Route, smaller-scale intra-Arctic shipping in the North Atlantic has been growing as well. One of the latest cooperations, between Icelandic container shipping company Eimskip and its Greenlandic partner Royal Arctic Line, is now facing a regulatory challenge.
Arctic communities perceive differently the impact of shipping on their environments Several communities across the Arctic are experiencing the growth in ship traffic. The environmental concerns of this rapid development differ greatly among the study communities.
Norwegian Arctic Coastal Waters Among Most Dangerous Shipping safety experts have identified the waters of Arctic coastal Northern Norway and Svalbard as some of the region’s most dangerous environments for maritime activity. As shipping traffic across the polar north continues to increase so does the likelihood for accidents and emergencies.
Economic Interests May Trump Shipping Safety as Russia Seeks to Reduce Ice-Class Requirements The Russian Ministry of Transport has proposed a significant softening of ice-class requirements on the Northern Sea Route. The change, proposed to go into effect in May 2019, would benefit the country’s largest independent natural gas producer Novatek. The company operates the vast Yamal LNG facility and relies on the route to export its cargo.
Maersk Releases Stunning Arctic Images from Northern Sea Route Voyage Danish shipping company Maersk released a series of images and videos chronicling the successful Arctic voyage of its container ship Venta Maersk, the first vessel of its kind to sail along Russia’s Northern Sea Route.
Maersk Releases Stunning Arctic Images from Northern Sea Route Voyage Danish shipping company Maersk released a series of images and videos chronicling the successful Arctic voyage of its container ship Venta Maersk, the first vessel of its kind to sail along Russia’s Northern Sea Route.
Maersk Releases Stunning Arctic Images from Northern Sea Route Voyage Danish shipping company Maersk released a series of images and videos chronicling the successful Arctic voyage of its container ship Venta Maersk, the first vessel of its kind to sail along Russia’s Northern Sea Route.
Maersk Container Ship Transits Arctic Ocean With Icebreaker Escort Danish shipping giant Maersk is about to complete the first-ever transit of the Arctic Ocean by a container ship. The Venta Maersk traveled through ice-covered waters with the help of a nuclear icebreaker and is expected in Europe within a week.
Maersk Container Ship Embarks on Historic Arctic Transit Danish company Maersk becomes latest major shipping operator to dip its toes in Arctic waters as it sends 3,600 TEU container ship along Russia’s Northern Sea Route.
East Siberian Sea Most Dangerous for Arctic Shipping The risk for ship accidents varies across different Arctic seas. The East Siberian Sea has been found to be most dangerous for ships.
IMO Approves New Shipping Corridors in Bering Sea to Improve Safety The International Maritime Organization, part of the United Nations, approved a joint proposal by the United States and Russia to establish two-way shipping lanes across the Bering Sea and into the Arctic Ocean.
Yamal LNG Carrier Boris Vilkitsky In Gross Violation of Safety Rules on NSR The LNG Carrier Boris Vilkitsky, operated by Dynagas LNG Partners, a joint venture by Dynagas, Sinotrans, and China LNG Shipping, entered Northern Sea Route last week in violation of the Rules of Navigation. Safety concerns on the route abound in the light of nearly 100 violations in 2017 alone. Will Russian authorities act to ensure safety along the route?
Maersk Considers Sending Container Ship Through Arctic, But Questions Remain Maersk confirms that the company considers Arctic passage as an option for its new 3,600 container ice-class vessels, which will operate in the North and Baltic Seas. The company is currently conducting a study on its feasibility with results expected for summer 2018
