Northern Sea Route

This article is about a Russian segment of the Northeast Passage. For the transoceanic route, see Northeast Passage.

Map of the Arctic region showing the Northern Sea Route, in the context of the Northeast Passage, and Northwest Passage

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) (Russian: Се́верный морско́й путь, Severnyy morskoy put, shortened to Севморпуть, Sevmorput) is a shipping route officially defined by Russian legislation as lying east of Novaya Zemlya and specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from the Kara Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait. The entire route lies in Arctic waters and within Russia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Parts are free of ice for only two months per year. The overall route on Russia's side of the Arctic between North Cape and the Bering Strait has been called the Northeast Passage, analogous to the Northwest Passage on the Canada side.

While the Northeast Passage includes all the East Arctic seas and connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Northern Sea Route does not include the Barents Sea, and it therefore does not reach the Atlantic.

Melting Arctic ice caps are likely to increase traffic in and the commercial viability of the Northern Sea Route. One study, for instance, projects "remarkable shifts in trade flows between Asia and Europe, diversion of trade within Europe, heavy shipping traffic in the Arctic and a substantial drop in Suez traffic. Projected shifts in trade also imply substantial pressure on an already threatened Arctic ecosystem."

History

Further information: Northeast Passage § History

The route was first conquered by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld's Vega expedition with a single wintering in 1878–79.

The Northern Sea Route is one of several Arctic shipping routes. Since the mid-1930s the Northern Sea Route has been an officially managed and administered shipping route along the northern/Arctic coast of Russia. The administrative entity was sequentially updated, upgraded, and renamed. Its current incarnation was the Federal State Budgetary Institution's establishment of The Northern Sea Route Administration in 2013.

In August 2017, the first ship traversed the Northern Sea Route without the use of icebreakers. According to the New York Times, this forebodes more shipping through the Arctic, as the sea ice melts and makes shipping easier. In 2018 Maersk Line sent the new "ice-class" container ship Venta Maersk through the route to gather data on operational feasibility, though they did not currently see it as commercially attractive. Escort assistance was required for three days from the Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy.

The Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis projected in 2015 that the Northern Sea Route may be ice-free by 2030, earlier than the Northwest Passage or Transpolar Sea Route. A 2016 report by the Copenhagen Business School found that large-scale trans-Arctic shipping may become economically viable by 2040.

In 2018 the Russian government transferred the main responsibility for the Northern Sea Route to Rosatom which through its ROSATOMFLOT subsidiary manages the Russian nuclear powered icebreaker fleet based in Murmansk.

Economic assessment

Researchers and economists usually compare the Northern Sea Route with the conventional Suez Canal Route. The first route is shorter, which allow to save on fuel, but it is connected with environmental risks and increased operating costs. Some studies recommend the joint usage of the two routes where the Northern Sea Route is used in summer when it is almost ice-free, and the Suez Canal Route is sailed in the rest of the year. The researchers also claim that the economic feasibility of the NSR largely depends on its weather conditions. The study of Sibul et al. proposed a path-finding algorithm for the NSR strategic assessment. It uses real weather as input and find the optimal shipping route.

Economic effects

Number of complete through transits per flag state.

Year	Total	Russia	Singapore	Finland	Norway	Germany	Spain	China	Greece	Hong Kong	Sweden	Netherlands	Portugal	Other
2007	2	2
2008	3	3
2009	5	5
2010	10	10
2011	41	26	4	2	2	1	1							5
2012	46	18		6	5			2						15
2013	71	46		2	2				2	1				18
2014	53	47									3			3
2015	18	10						2			1	1		4
2016	18	7				1				2				8
2017	27	9						2		3		2	1	10
2018	27	8		1				7		1		1	2	6
2019	37
2020	62

See also

• Arctic Bridge
• Arctic cooperation and politics
• Arctic policy of Russia
• List of Russian explorers
• Territorial claims in the Arctic

References

• Belton, Catherine (23 June 2020). Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. ISBN 978-0374238711.
• Golden, Daniel (10 October 2017). Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America's Universities. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-1627796354.

Further reading

• Østreng, Willy; Eger, Karl Magnus; Fløistad, Brit; Jørgensen-Dahl, Arnfinn; Lothe, Lars; Mejlænder-Larsen, Morten; Wergeland, Tor (2013). Shipping in Arctic Waters: A Comparison of the Northeast, Northwest and Trans Polar Passages. Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16790-4. ISBN 978-3642167898. S2CID 41481012.
• Keupp, Marcus M., ed. (2015). The Northern Sea Route. SpringerGabler. ISBN 978-3-658-04080-2.
• Zeng et al. 2020. "The competitiveness of Arctic shipping over Suez Canal and China-Europe railway." Transport Policy.
• Wang et al. 2020. "Development situation and future demand for the ports along the Northern Sea Route." Research in Transportation Business & Management
• Ding et al. 2020. "Does a carbon tax affect the feasibility of Arctic shipping?" Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment

External links

• Northern Sea Route Administration (Russian Federation)
• Northern Sea Route Information Office (Nord University)
• International Northern Sea Route Programme
• Russian State Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic, The discovery and history of exploration of the Northern Sea Route
• Pictures - during NE passage
• Tanker Vladimir Tikhonov Completes Successful Northern Sea Route Transit in a Week
• Armstrong, Terence. The Northern Sea Route (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1952)
• Belov, M. I. Istoriia otkrytiia i osveniia Severnogo Morskogo Puti, 4 vols. (Leningrad, 1956–1969)
• Horensma, Piers. The Soviet Arctic (London: Routledge, 1991)
• McCannon, John. Red Arctic (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998)
• Konyshev, Valery & Sergunin, Alexander: Is Russia a revisionist military power in the Arctic? Defense & Security Analysis, September 2014.
• Konyshev, Valery & Sergunin, Alexander. Russia in search of its Arctic strategy: between hard and soft power? Polar Journal, April 2014.