October 21, 2025 • 27 mins
Northern Arctic shipping route — often called the Northern Sea Route (NSR) or Northeast Passage — which connects the Far East (Asia) to Europe via the Arctic Ocean north of Russia is one of the most strategically significant emerging maritime corridors of the 21st century. The Northern Arctic Route represents one of the most significant shifts in global shipping geography since the opening of the Suez Canal. It offers substantial time and fuel savings on the Asia-Europe corridor and direct access to Arctic resource exports, but remains limited by ice, cost, infrastructure, and politics. Over the next few decades, its role will likely grow — not as a wholesale replacement, but as a strategic alternative and a new axis of maritime trade in a warming world.
Barry describes the route, challenges facing it and a recent strategically important containership passage marking the start of a potential new express service.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
A very warm welcome everyone to the Maritime
Education Podcast.
My name is Barry Sadler, and I'dlike to welcome those of you who
are trying us out for the firsttime.
Welcome to our podcast.
And for those of you who areregular listeners or returning
listeners, welcome back.
I'm really glad you took thetime to download and listen to
(00:23):
our podcast today.
Which I'd like to talk about theNorthern Arctic Shipping Route.
Now, the reason I'd like to talkabout the Northern Arctic
shipping route was the recentvoyage made by a container
vessel called the IstanbulBridge, which arrived in
Felixstow on the thirteenth ofOctober this year, that's just
(00:49):
about a week ago aftertransiting this Northern Sea
route.
Now Northern Sea Route is astrategically important route
between the Far East and Europe.
Northern Sea Route is seen asthe third artery of major
(01:11):
shipping.
That is of course after Suez andPanama, although as we know,
Suez currently going through asomewhat quieter period due to
the problems at the southern endof the Red Sea.
But nonetheless, as far as theFar East to Europe is concerned,
(01:31):
there's one current major route,and that runs from the Far East
down through the Indian Ocean.
Now it can run through the RedSea, through Syries, through the
Mediterranean and up and intoEurope, or as is happening at
the moment, due to, as I say,the problems at the southern end
of the Red Sea, it runs into theIndian Ocean around the Cape of
(01:54):
Good Hope and then up the westcoast of Africa and approaches
Europe from that direction.
Now, this route is obviously awell-trodden route.
Both the Suez and Cape Routesare known very very well to
shippers, they're known well tothose who use what we call liner
(02:16):
routes, and they are far eastroutes that have been in place
and have been established formany years now.
Some people hear the phraseliner route and think, what is a
liner route?
Because a liner typically soundslike a passenger vessel running
on a regular route.
(02:36):
Liner can be applied to any shiprunning a regular route.
So the liner trade across theAtlantic would normally refer to
passenger vessels that used totrade regularly between Europe
and America as almost aeight-day ferry service, really.
And so a liner route establishesa line.
(03:12):
Sometimes known as loops, thereason that we've adopted loops
is loops tend to not onlyencompass the liner trade but
also encompass companies thatare part of that loop.
So instead of mentioning four orfive companies that are part of
a liner route between the FarEast and Europe, we call it a
(03:35):
loop.
We call it a conglomerate ofcompanies that have come
together in order to provide asingle service, which means that
that liner service between thetwo areas becomes very, very
efficient.
So we have a liner servicebetween the Far East and Europe.
Obviously it's been running formany many years.
(03:57):
Trade between the Far East andEurope historically goes back
hundreds of years.
But nevertheless, the currentmodern liner routes carry huge
amounts of cargo.
They are very, very significantin global trade and they ensure
that goods that are produced inthe Far East, in particular
goods that are produced inChina, make their way safely,
(04:21):
efficiently and as economicallyas possible to northern Europe
and indeed beyond.
So the line of route between theFar East and Europe, as I say,
traditionally really goes acrossthe Indian Ocean following one
of those two alternatives.
(04:43):
But starting off in Septemberthis year, and as I said,
finishing in the on the 13th ofOctober, we had a liner service
that departed from Ningbo inChina and arrived in Felixstow
in the UK following the NorthernArctic shipping route.
(05:06):
Now the Northern Arctic shippingroute fundamentally connects the
Far Eastern Europe via theArctic Ocean to the north of
Russia and is becoming one ofthe most strategically
significant emerging maritimecorridors of the 21st century.
The Northern Sea route is theArctic Maritime Passage that
(05:29):
fundamentally runs alongRussia's northern coastline.
Now the reason it runs so close,of course, to Russia's northern
coastline is it follows theroute while staying as far south
of the main ice cap as it canpossibly run.
If you do stray too far to thenorth of Russia's northern
(05:50):
coastline, then obviously you'regoing to come across some very,
very thick permanent ice, theice cap itself, which even with
an icebreaker escort is going tomake it difficult for you to
navigate.
So there's a very very specificroute that is followed in order
to make use of the seasonalavailability of this route.
(06:13):
Now, why is the route seasonal?
Well the route's seasonal, ofcourse, because of the amount of
ice that accumulates there.
Now, at the moment, July toOctober is what they would call
open water season.
This window is increasing and isnow potentially actually five
(06:34):
months wide.
Global warming means that theice has retreated some 40% since
the 1980s.
So this open water season wherenavigation through the northern
route can be done without anicebreaker escort, currently
July to October, but this windowis increasing.
(06:58):
Partial access can be gained Mayto June, November to December,
but you would probably need anicebreaker escort to get you
through.
Between January, January andApril, the route is generally
closed to regular shipping.
So where does this route go?
Well, this route starts offobviously in the Far East and
(07:20):
then heads northeast towards theBering Strait.
Now Bering Strait's aninteresting area of sea.
It's the closest point betweenRussia in Russia's eastern point
and the United States westernpoint in the form of Alaska.
(07:40):
It's only 51 miles wide, so it'sa uh it's a fairly tight strait.
It's about 90 meters deep, soit's nice and deep, it'll take
the uh the deepest vesselsthrough there.
Interestingly, within the straititself, you've got the Diomede
Islands.
So you've got Little Diomedethat belongs to the US, and Big
Diomede that belongs to Russia,and these islands are actually
(08:04):
only 2.4 miles apart.
Now when uh relations betweenRussia and the US are good, then
the residents of those islandswill actually visit each island.
So they'll go from one to theother, mainly for traditional
festivals and things like that.
(08:25):
But if relations start to sour,then movement between the
islands is seen as less of apossibility.
The Russian coast of the BeringStrait has been a closed
military zone for some time now,though organized trips are
sometimes made there.
Even if you arrive withoutannouncing yourself and you do
(08:49):
have a visa, you may still bearrested on that coast.
So it is a very, very closedmilitary zone there in the
Bering Sea.
So back to this uh this northernroute goes up through the Bering
Strait and into what's calledthe Chickchi Sea.
That's the sea directly to thenorth of the Bering Strait.
(09:11):
Uh the Bering Sea to the southof the Bering Strait, the
Chukchi Sea to the north of theBering Strait.
You go through there and thenyou start to hug the coast of
Russia in order to stay in therelatively ice-free waters of
this northern route.
You follow the Russian coastlineinto what's known as the East
(09:34):
Siberian Sea.
You then go south of the newSiberian Islands, which are
Russian islands.
So not only have you enteredRussia's exclusive economic
zone, which of course anexclusive economic zone is the
seas within 200 miles of thenational baseline, but once you
start to pass through some ofthese passages, you are entering
(09:59):
Russian territorial waters.
Now, this is significant when itcomes to the management of the
Northern Sea route.
So you pass through a straitthat's uh that's through there
called the Volkitsky Strait.
Um, that's the strait that runsbetween the uh the Siberian
Islands and uh a mainlandRussia.
(10:21):
You go through there into theLaptev Sea, and then you keep
going and you pass again throughRussian territorial waters.
The Severna Islands, whichbelong to Russia, you pass
through the strait to the southof that.
Now you then go into what'sknown as the Kara Sea.
(10:42):
Again, the Kara Sea is part ofRussia and you pass well within
their territorial waters as yougo through something called the
Kara Gate.
Now the Kara Gate is a very,very narrow passage between
mainland Russia and Novaya,which is a very large Russian
(11:04):
island to the north.
The Kairagate marks your passageinto what's known as the Barents
Sea.
And although as you pass throughthe Kara Gate you are still
within Russian territorialwaters, you are fundamentally
heading towards relatively openseas.
(11:26):
The Barents Sea itself basicallymarks the boundary between going
from Russian exclusive economiczone into the Finnish exclusion
economic zone and fundamentallyentering European waters.
Now the actual northern searoute itself is seen as that bit
(11:51):
of the passage that lies betweenthe sea just to the north of the
Bering Strait and the Kara Gate.
Once you enter the Barents Sea,you are actually entering a well
trodden, relatively familiararea of passage.
Of course, once you've reachedthe sea off of Finland, you then
(12:13):
go around the top ofScandinavia, head south down
through the North Sea, and thenyou are pretty much in northern
Europe.
Now the voyage that we describedof the Istanbul Bridge
fundamentally ran directly toFelixdow in the United Kingdom,
so it linked the UK and itlinked the Far East using the
(12:38):
Northern Sea routes.
It is significant to note thatthis route does pass through
both Russian territorial and theRussian exclusive economic zone
because fundamentally this meansthat Russia can control this sea
(13:00):
passage by asserting regulationsover it.
Now Russia does this using afairly unique part of the United
Nations Convention on the Law ofthe Sea.
This is United NationsConvention Article two hundred
three four.
Article two hundred three fourof UNTLOS covers ice covered
(13:22):
areas and basically what it saysis that coastal states have the
right to adopt and enforcenon-discriminatory laws and
regulations for the prevention,reduction and control of marine
pollution from vessels in icecovered areas within the limits
of their exclusive economiczone.
(13:45):
So as you are passing within 200nautical miles of Russia, you
are passing within theirexclusive economical zone.
Where laws and regulations canbe used by Russia, should be
used to prevent marinepollution, but can be used in
order to regulate trafficthrough the area, and that's how
(14:08):
Russia uses unklos article twohundred three four.
Now Russia itself grantspermits, monitors traffic and
will enforce legislation onships using the Northern
Passage.
Ships must submit a navigationalplan to the Russian authorities
(14:30):
and in most cases will need toengage some sort of ice pilot or
icebreaker escort if that isrequired.
Russia applies its national lawsand collects fees for icebreaker
services and pilotage withinthese areas.
And it's that UNTLOS Conventionthat allows Russia to do this.
(14:53):
Now because you actually needpermission therefore to use that
northern route from Russia, thissometimes means that permission
is not granted to some ships orflagships that Russia doesn't
particularly want to see itnavigating within its
particularly sensitive areasalong that northern route.
(15:16):
Particularly ports like Mamanskare strategically very important
to Russia.
Not just because they can beused to control the Northern Sea
route, but they containsensitive Russian ships and
activities that Russia wouldprefer the international
community not to be able tosnoop upon.
(15:39):
So Russia does control thisroute using that UNTLOS article.
Now, despite the obviousadvantages that the North Sea
route carries, and of coursethose obvious advantages are a
reduction in distance.
So for instance, Tokyo toRotterdam is about 13,000
(16:02):
kilometers via the North Searoute and about 20,000
kilometers via the traditionalSuez route.
So it's about a 35% shorterdistance that you transit, and
this of course, major fuelsavings, major CO2 reduction,
and most importantly, in a linerservice, the time efficiency.
(16:25):
So the loop can advertise thisas being an express service
because it potentially shaves 10to 14 days off a typical Europe
to Asia transit.
But despite this lower fuelconsumption, despite this
ability to bring goods from theFar East to Northern Europe in
(16:49):
an express form, there are somereal barriers to it being used
by a lot of shipping companies.
One of those barriers is theunpredictability of the ice.
Even in the summer, you can getsudden freeze events in this
(17:10):
part of the world, whichbasically means that where the
ice seasonally should be open toallow any ship to transit the
area, not just an ice class shipand not a ship with an
icebreaker, even though theseason allows it, a sudden
freeze event can create ice thatposes a risk to ships that are
(17:34):
not ice class.
There are high costs associatedwith this fee, this route, and
in particular insurance fees andinsurance premiums will increase
when you're navigating in whatis essentially fairly hazardous
waters, and of course, you'renavigating very, very close to
(17:58):
Russia.
Icebreaker escort fees andpilotage fees are also very
expensive.
There are infrastructure gaps,and despite the implementation
of the polar code in 2017, thereis limited salvage and tug
(18:18):
support in this part of theworld and relatively sparse
search and rescue coverage.
Now the polar code has beenadopted in this part of the
world, so technically speaking,you should have search and
rescue coverage as you use theNorthern Transit, but it's not
guaranteed.
It's not guaranteed becausefundamentally we are reliant on
(18:41):
that search and rescue coveragecoming from Russia.
And although Russia does very,very does take its search and
rescue responsibilitiesseriously, geopolitical
challenges may make it somewhatdifficult to obtain timely
search and rescue if it'srequired.
(19:03):
We've talked about theregulatory complexity of the
area in that it does come underRussian control as part of its
exercise of the UNCLOS of theUNCLOS article.
So there are some real hoops tojump through when you go through
it.
(19:23):
This is, of course, anenvironmentally sensitive area
and therefore very, very muchsubject to the environmental
constraints of the polar code,which essentially prohibit the
use of certain fuels up there,and also change the wording of
Marpole somewhat so that thedistances from land that we
(19:46):
normally apply under Marpole arealso distances applied to the
nearest ice or fast ice.
Of course, we keep talking aboutRussia, but geopolitical
tension, um particularly Westernsanctions on Russia since 2022,
have constrained investment andcooperation in this route, and
(20:07):
Russia has been reluctant toallow lots of ships on western
loops to use the passage, usingits powers to prevent permits
from being issued.
But nonetheless, um the IstanbulBridge, the Panamaxize container
(20:28):
ship, did make the first line ofvoyage this year, as I say,
September to October.
Istanbul's voyage took about 20days in total, it covered
approximately 7,500 nauticalmiles and saved all of that
fuel.
It crossed the whole entirelength of the Northern Sea route
(20:51):
within the Russian Antarcticwalkers in about waters in about
five days, and it did not use anicebreaker escort because, of
course, September and Octoberare still within the open sea
seasonal part of the ice upthere.
Cargo itself was approximately4,920 foot equivalent containers
(21:16):
loaded with all the regulargoods that come from the Far
East.
Electric vehicles, electricgoods, solar panels, basically
all the primary stuff that isbuilt in the Far East was in
those containers.
And as we've said, it's part ofthe China Europe Arctic Express.
(21:38):
So it goes to the UK, Germany,Poland and the Netherlands as
part of this loop.
It's seen as a milestone incontainer shipping via the
Arctic because although therehave been container ships
transiting mainly between Russiaand China before this is the
(21:59):
first real direct China toEurope liner voyage that has
been made through the area.
So what's going to happen in thefuture when it comes to the
Northern Sea route?
Well, the Northern Sea routeitself is an emerging route.
We need to be aware of the factthat it's not fully established
(22:22):
mainly because of thegeopolitical hurdles that lie
ahead.
But it is an emerging route.
At the end of the day, we arelooking at the Northern Sea
route in order to decrease theamount of fuel that is used to
transport goods between Chinaand mainland Europe, and at the
(22:46):
end of the day, regulate aservice which for a long time
has taken the longer, more oilexpensive routes via the Cape.
It should become increasinglyviable as Arctic Sea diminishes.
Now that's a bit sad becauseobviously this is due to global
(23:08):
warming and the Arctic ice isretreating.
But as the Arctic sea ice doesdiminish, this will open up the
route for longer and longer,allowing more ships to take it,
and therefore allowing less fuelto be burnt on this particular
(23:29):
line of route.
It's been dubbed the polar SilkRoad by China because it's
central to China's developmentbelt and an initiative for China
to open up this route toobviously promote, encourage and
continue trade with Europe without the long passage round the
(23:53):
Cape and flying the flag onceagain for reductions in
greenhouse gas levels byreducing the amount of fuel
that's actually burnt betweenthose two sea areas.
It is worth bearing in mind thatwhen we look at the future, we
(24:14):
will start to put ships throughwhat is essentially a very
environmentally sensitive area.
And without a proper frameworkin place to control greenhouse
gases from ships, if we do startto increase the number of ships
that use the Northern Sea route,we do put this ecologically
(24:35):
fragile area under quite a lotof strain.
One balances the other, perhaps.
Using less fuel by taking thisnorthern route may offset the
carbon or the extra carbon thatis put into the atmosphere
around the Northern Sea routeand the sensitive sea areas
(24:57):
surrounding it.
Hopefully Russia will acceptthat trade between itself and
China and indeed itself andEurope will eventually return to
normal and that Northern Searoute will provide a key liner
route that encompasses not justgoods coming from China to
Europe but goods coming fromChina to Russia to Europe and
(25:21):
vice versa, opening up a newtrade route.
However, before this happens,it's important that the
international community andespecially the IMO regroup and
try to put in place measuresthat reduce the greenhouse gas
(25:42):
and CO2 carbon footprints ofships so that if this sea route
does become more viable and doesbecome busier, we do not harm
this already fragileenvironment.
Hopefully that's given you a bitof an insight into the northern
Arctic route.
(26:03):
It does offer substantial timeand fuel savings on the Asia
Europe corridor.
Direct access to Arctic resourceexports remains limited by ice
cost and infrastructure, and ofcourse, mainly at the moment by
geopolitics.
However, over the next fewdecades, experts do have the
(26:25):
opinion that its role willlikely grow.
Not as a wholesale replacementfor the route between China and
the far and um Europe, but as astrategic alternative and a new
axis of maritime trade in awarming world.
Thank you very, very much forlistening to the podcast today.
(26:49):
I hope you've got a betterunderstanding of that uh of that
rather unique passage that wastaken by the Istanbul Bridge a
couple of weeks ago.
And we look forward to welcomingyou back to the Maritime
Education Podcast in the verynear future.
I'm Barry Sadler.
Have a great day, everyone.
A very warm welcome everyone to the Maritime
Education Podcast.
My name is Barry Sadler, and I'dlike to welcome those of you who
are trying us out for the firsttime.
Welcome to our podcast.
And for those of you who areregular listeners or returning
listeners, welcome back.
I'm really glad you took thetime to download and listen to
(00:23):
our podcast today.
Which I'd like to talk about theNorthern Arctic Shipping Route.
Now, the reason I'd like to talkabout the Northern Arctic
shipping route was the recentvoyage made by a container
vessel called the IstanbulBridge, which arrived in
Felixstow on the thirteenth ofOctober this year, that's just
(00:49):
about a week ago aftertransiting this Northern Sea
route.
Now Northern Sea Route is astrategically important route
between the Far East and Europe.
Northern Sea Route is seen asthe third artery of major
(01:11):
shipping.
That is of course after Suez andPanama, although as we know,
Suez currently going through asomewhat quieter period due to
the problems at the southern endof the Red Sea.
But nonetheless, as far as theFar East to Europe is concerned,
(01:31):
there's one current major route,and that runs from the Far East
down through the Indian Ocean.
Now it can run through the RedSea, through Syries, through the
Mediterranean and up and intoEurope, or as is happening at
the moment, due to, as I say,the problems at the southern end
of the Red Sea, it runs into theIndian Ocean around the Cape of
(01:54):
Good Hope and then up the westcoast of Africa and approaches
Europe from that direction.
Now, this route is obviously awell-trodden route.
Both the Suez and Cape Routesare known very very well to
shippers, they're known well tothose who use what we call liner
(02:16):
routes, and they are far eastroutes that have been in place
and have been established formany years now.
Some people hear the phraseliner route and think, what is a
liner route?
Because a liner typically soundslike a passenger vessel running
on a regular route.
(02:36):
Liner can be applied to any shiprunning a regular route.
So the liner trade across theAtlantic would normally refer to
passenger vessels that used totrade regularly between Europe
and America as almost aeight-day ferry service, really.
And so a liner route establishesa line.
(03:12):
Sometimes known as loops, thereason that we've adopted loops
is loops tend to not onlyencompass the liner trade but
also encompass companies thatare part of that loop.
So instead of mentioning four orfive companies that are part of
a liner route between the FarEast and Europe, we call it a
(03:35):
loop.
We call it a conglomerate ofcompanies that have come
together in order to provide asingle service, which means that
that liner service between thetwo areas becomes very, very
efficient.
So we have a liner servicebetween the Far East and Europe.
Obviously it's been running formany many years.
(03:57):
Trade between the Far East andEurope historically goes back
hundreds of years.
But nevertheless, the currentmodern liner routes carry huge
amounts of cargo.
They are very, very significantin global trade and they ensure
that goods that are produced inthe Far East, in particular
goods that are produced inChina, make their way safely,
(04:21):
efficiently and as economicallyas possible to northern Europe
and indeed beyond.
So the line of route between theFar East and Europe, as I say,
traditionally really goes acrossthe Indian Ocean following one
of those two alternatives.
(04:43):
But starting off in Septemberthis year, and as I said,
finishing in the on the 13th ofOctober, we had a liner service
that departed from Ningbo inChina and arrived in Felixstow
in the UK following the NorthernArctic shipping route.
(05:06):
Now the Northern Arctic shippingroute fundamentally connects the
Far Eastern Europe via theArctic Ocean to the north of
Russia and is becoming one ofthe most strategically
significant emerging maritimecorridors of the 21st century.
The Northern Sea route is theArctic Maritime Passage that
(05:29):
fundamentally runs alongRussia's northern coastline.
Now the reason it runs so close,of course, to Russia's northern
coastline is it follows theroute while staying as far south
of the main ice cap as it canpossibly run.
If you do stray too far to thenorth of Russia's northern
(05:50):
coastline, then obviously you'regoing to come across some very,
very thick permanent ice, theice cap itself, which even with
an icebreaker escort is going tomake it difficult for you to
navigate.
So there's a very very specificroute that is followed in order
to make use of the seasonalavailability of this route.
(06:13):
Now, why is the route seasonal?
Well the route's seasonal, ofcourse, because of the amount of
ice that accumulates there.
Now, at the moment, July toOctober is what they would call
open water season.
This window is increasing and isnow potentially actually five
(06:34):
months wide.
Global warming means that theice has retreated some 40% since
the 1980s.
So this open water season wherenavigation through the northern
route can be done without anicebreaker escort, currently
July to October, but this windowis increasing.
(06:58):
Partial access can be gained Mayto June, November to December,
but you would probably need anicebreaker escort to get you
through.
Between January, January andApril, the route is generally
closed to regular shipping.
So where does this route go?
Well, this route starts offobviously in the Far East and
(07:20):
then heads northeast towards theBering Strait.
Now Bering Strait's aninteresting area of sea.
It's the closest point betweenRussia in Russia's eastern point
and the United States westernpoint in the form of Alaska.
(07:40):
It's only 51 miles wide, so it'sa uh it's a fairly tight strait.
It's about 90 meters deep, soit's nice and deep, it'll take
the uh the deepest vesselsthrough there.
Interestingly, within the straititself, you've got the Diomede
Islands.
So you've got Little Diomedethat belongs to the US, and Big
Diomede that belongs to Russia,and these islands are actually
(08:04):
only 2.4 miles apart.
Now when uh relations betweenRussia and the US are good, then
the residents of those islandswill actually visit each island.
So they'll go from one to theother, mainly for traditional
festivals and things like that.
(08:25):
But if relations start to sour,then movement between the
islands is seen as less of apossibility.
The Russian coast of the BeringStrait has been a closed
military zone for some time now,though organized trips are
sometimes made there.
Even if you arrive withoutannouncing yourself and you do
(08:49):
have a visa, you may still bearrested on that coast.
So it is a very, very closedmilitary zone there in the
Bering Sea.
So back to this uh this northernroute goes up through the Bering
Strait and into what's calledthe Chickchi Sea.
That's the sea directly to thenorth of the Bering Strait.
(09:11):
Uh the Bering Sea to the southof the Bering Strait, the
Chukchi Sea to the north of theBering Strait.
You go through there and thenyou start to hug the coast of
Russia in order to stay in therelatively ice-free waters of
this northern route.
You follow the Russian coastlineinto what's known as the East
(09:34):
Siberian Sea.
You then go south of the newSiberian Islands, which are
Russian islands.
So not only have you enteredRussia's exclusive economic
zone, which of course anexclusive economic zone is the
seas within 200 miles of thenational baseline, but once you
start to pass through some ofthese passages, you are entering
(09:59):
Russian territorial waters.
Now, this is significant when itcomes to the management of the
Northern Sea route.
So you pass through a straitthat's uh that's through there
called the Volkitsky Strait.
Um, that's the strait that runsbetween the uh the Siberian
Islands and uh a mainlandRussia.
(10:21):
You go through there into theLaptev Sea, and then you keep
going and you pass again throughRussian territorial waters.
The Severna Islands, whichbelong to Russia, you pass
through the strait to the southof that.
Now you then go into what'sknown as the Kara Sea.
(10:42):
Again, the Kara Sea is part ofRussia and you pass well within
their territorial waters as yougo through something called the
Kara Gate.
Now the Kara Gate is a very,very narrow passage between
mainland Russia and Novaya,which is a very large Russian
(11:04):
island to the north.
The Kairagate marks your passageinto what's known as the Barents
Sea.
And although as you pass throughthe Kara Gate you are still
within Russian territorialwaters, you are fundamentally
heading towards relatively openseas.
(11:26):
The Barents Sea itself basicallymarks the boundary between going
from Russian exclusive economiczone into the Finnish exclusion
economic zone and fundamentallyentering European waters.
Now the actual northern searoute itself is seen as that bit
(11:51):
of the passage that lies betweenthe sea just to the north of the
Bering Strait and the Kara Gate.
Once you enter the Barents Sea,you are actually entering a well
trodden, relatively familiararea of passage.
Of course, once you've reachedthe sea off of Finland, you then
(12:13):
go around the top ofScandinavia, head south down
through the North Sea, and thenyou are pretty much in northern
Europe.
Now the voyage that we describedof the Istanbul Bridge
fundamentally ran directly toFelixdow in the United Kingdom,
so it linked the UK and itlinked the Far East using the
(12:38):
Northern Sea routes.
It is significant to note thatthis route does pass through
both Russian territorial and theRussian exclusive economic zone
because fundamentally this meansthat Russia can control this sea
(13:00):
passage by asserting regulationsover it.
Now Russia does this using afairly unique part of the United
Nations Convention on the Law ofthe Sea.
This is United NationsConvention Article two hundred
three four.
Article two hundred three fourof UNTLOS covers ice covered
(13:22):
areas and basically what it saysis that coastal states have the
right to adopt and enforcenon-discriminatory laws and
regulations for the prevention,reduction and control of marine
pollution from vessels in icecovered areas within the limits
of their exclusive economiczone.
(13:45):
So as you are passing within 200nautical miles of Russia, you
are passing within theirexclusive economical zone.
Where laws and regulations canbe used by Russia, should be
used to prevent marinepollution, but can be used in
order to regulate trafficthrough the area, and that's how
(14:08):
Russia uses unklos article twohundred three four.
Now Russia itself grantspermits, monitors traffic and
will enforce legislation onships using the Northern
Passage.
Ships must submit a navigationalplan to the Russian authorities
(14:30):
and in most cases will need toengage some sort of ice pilot or
icebreaker escort if that isrequired.
Russia applies its national lawsand collects fees for icebreaker
services and pilotage withinthese areas.
And it's that UNTLOS Conventionthat allows Russia to do this.
(14:53):
Now because you actually needpermission therefore to use that
northern route from Russia, thissometimes means that permission
is not granted to some ships orflagships that Russia doesn't
particularly want to see itnavigating within its
particularly sensitive areasalong that northern route.
(15:16):
Particularly ports like Mamanskare strategically very important
to Russia.
Not just because they can beused to control the Northern Sea
route, but they containsensitive Russian ships and
activities that Russia wouldprefer the international
community not to be able tosnoop upon.
(15:39):
So Russia does control thisroute using that UNTLOS article.
Now, despite the obviousadvantages that the North Sea
route carries, and of coursethose obvious advantages are a
reduction in distance.
So for instance, Tokyo toRotterdam is about 13,000
(16:02):
kilometers via the North Searoute and about 20,000
kilometers via the traditionalSuez route.
So it's about a 35% shorterdistance that you transit, and
this of course, major fuelsavings, major CO2 reduction,
and most importantly, in a linerservice, the time efficiency.
(16:25):
So the loop can advertise thisas being an express service
because it potentially shaves 10to 14 days off a typical Europe
to Asia transit.
But despite this lower fuelconsumption, despite this
ability to bring goods from theFar East to Northern Europe in
(16:49):
an express form, there are somereal barriers to it being used
by a lot of shipping companies.
One of those barriers is theunpredictability of the ice.
Even in the summer, you can getsudden freeze events in this
(17:10):
part of the world, whichbasically means that where the
ice seasonally should be open toallow any ship to transit the
area, not just an ice class shipand not a ship with an
icebreaker, even though theseason allows it, a sudden
freeze event can create ice thatposes a risk to ships that are
(17:34):
not ice class.
There are high costs associatedwith this fee, this route, and
in particular insurance fees andinsurance premiums will increase
when you're navigating in whatis essentially fairly hazardous
waters, and of course, you'renavigating very, very close to
(17:58):
Russia.
Icebreaker escort fees andpilotage fees are also very
expensive.
There are infrastructure gaps,and despite the implementation
of the polar code in 2017, thereis limited salvage and tug
(18:18):
support in this part of theworld and relatively sparse
search and rescue coverage.
Now the polar code has beenadopted in this part of the
world, so technically speaking,you should have search and
rescue coverage as you use theNorthern Transit, but it's not
guaranteed.
It's not guaranteed becausefundamentally we are reliant on
(18:41):
that search and rescue coveragecoming from Russia.
And although Russia does very,very does take its search and
rescue responsibilitiesseriously, geopolitical
challenges may make it somewhatdifficult to obtain timely
search and rescue if it'srequired.
(19:03):
We've talked about theregulatory complexity of the
area in that it does come underRussian control as part of its
exercise of the UNCLOS of theUNCLOS article.
So there are some real hoops tojump through when you go through
it.
(19:23):
This is, of course, anenvironmentally sensitive area
and therefore very, very muchsubject to the environmental
constraints of the polar code,which essentially prohibit the
use of certain fuels up there,and also change the wording of
Marpole somewhat so that thedistances from land that we
(19:46):
normally apply under Marpole arealso distances applied to the
nearest ice or fast ice.
Of course, we keep talking aboutRussia, but geopolitical
tension, um particularly Westernsanctions on Russia since 2022,
have constrained investment andcooperation in this route, and
(20:07):
Russia has been reluctant toallow lots of ships on western
loops to use the passage, usingits powers to prevent permits
from being issued.
But nonetheless, um the IstanbulBridge, the Panamaxize container
(20:28):
ship, did make the first line ofvoyage this year, as I say,
September to October.
Istanbul's voyage took about 20days in total, it covered
approximately 7,500 nauticalmiles and saved all of that
fuel.
It crossed the whole entirelength of the Northern Sea route
(20:51):
within the Russian Antarcticwalkers in about waters in about
five days, and it did not use anicebreaker escort because, of
course, September and Octoberare still within the open sea
seasonal part of the ice upthere.
Cargo itself was approximately4,920 foot equivalent containers
(21:16):
loaded with all the regulargoods that come from the Far
East.
Electric vehicles, electricgoods, solar panels, basically
all the primary stuff that isbuilt in the Far East was in
those containers.
And as we've said, it's part ofthe China Europe Arctic Express.
(21:38):
So it goes to the UK, Germany,Poland and the Netherlands as
part of this loop.
It's seen as a milestone incontainer shipping via the
Arctic because although therehave been container ships
transiting mainly between Russiaand China before this is the
(21:59):
first real direct China toEurope liner voyage that has
been made through the area.
So what's going to happen in thefuture when it comes to the
Northern Sea route?
Well, the Northern Sea routeitself is an emerging route.
We need to be aware of the factthat it's not fully established
(22:22):
mainly because of thegeopolitical hurdles that lie
ahead.
But it is an emerging route.
At the end of the day, we arelooking at the Northern Sea
route in order to decrease theamount of fuel that is used to
transport goods between Chinaand mainland Europe, and at the
(22:46):
end of the day, regulate aservice which for a long time
has taken the longer, more oilexpensive routes via the Cape.
It should become increasinglyviable as Arctic Sea diminishes.
Now that's a bit sad becauseobviously this is due to global
(23:08):
warming and the Arctic ice isretreating.
But as the Arctic sea ice doesdiminish, this will open up the
route for longer and longer,allowing more ships to take it,
and therefore allowing less fuelto be burnt on this particular
(23:29):
line of route.
It's been dubbed the polar SilkRoad by China because it's
central to China's developmentbelt and an initiative for China
to open up this route toobviously promote, encourage and
continue trade with Europe without the long passage round the
(23:53):
Cape and flying the flag onceagain for reductions in
greenhouse gas levels byreducing the amount of fuel
that's actually burnt betweenthose two sea areas.
It is worth bearing in mind thatwhen we look at the future, we
(24:14):
will start to put ships throughwhat is essentially a very
environmentally sensitive area.
And without a proper frameworkin place to control greenhouse
gases from ships, if we do startto increase the number of ships
that use the Northern Sea route,we do put this ecologically
(24:35):
fragile area under quite a lotof strain.
One balances the other, perhaps.
Using less fuel by taking thisnorthern route may offset the
carbon or the extra carbon thatis put into the atmosphere
around the Northern Sea routeand the sensitive sea areas
(24:57):
surrounding it.
Hopefully Russia will acceptthat trade between itself and
China and indeed itself andEurope will eventually return to
normal and that Northern Searoute will provide a key liner
route that encompasses not justgoods coming from China to
Europe but goods coming fromChina to Russia to Europe and
(25:21):
vice versa, opening up a newtrade route.
However, before this happens,it's important that the
international community andespecially the IMO regroup and
try to put in place measuresthat reduce the greenhouse gas
(25:42):
and CO2 carbon footprints ofships so that if this sea route
does become more viable and doesbecome busier, we do not harm
this already fragileenvironment.
Hopefully that's given you a bitof an insight into the northern
Arctic route.
(26:03):
It does offer substantial timeand fuel savings on the Asia
Europe corridor.
Direct access to Arctic resourceexports remains limited by ice
cost and infrastructure, and ofcourse, mainly at the moment by
geopolitics.
However, over the next fewdecades, experts do have the
(26:25):
opinion that its role willlikely grow.
Not as a wholesale replacementfor the route between China and
the far and um Europe, but as astrategic alternative and a new
axis of maritime trade in awarming world.
Thank you very, very much forlistening to the podcast today.
(26:49):
I hope you've got a betterunderstanding of that uh of that
rather unique passage that wastaken by the Istanbul Bridge a
couple of weeks ago.
And we look forward to welcomingyou back to the Maritime
Education Podcast in the verynear future.
I'm Barry Sadler.
Have a great day, everyone.
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