Northern Sea Route thread

[blumenkraft]

Tanker cross Russian Arctic route without icebreaker assistance

The sea ice along the Russian Arctic coast is quickly vanishing as temperatures in the region have been reaching record highs.

With the retreating ice comes tanker traffic.

It was the “Christophe de Margerie” that on the 19th May kickstarted this year’s shipping season across the eastern part of the Northern Sea Route. The vessel owned and operated by Russian shipping company Sovcomflot loaded up liquefied natural gas in Sabetta and is due to arrive in the Chinese port of Jingtang on the 11th June.

It was the earliest east-bound shipment on the route ever for this kind of vessel.

By 27th May, the ship had made it almost to the island of Wrangle, information from ship tracker service MarineTraffic shows. The “Christophe de Margerie” is accompanied by nuclear powered icebreaker “Yamal”.

In the wake of the almost 300 meter long vessel now follow the “Vladimir Voronin”, a vessel that is operated by company Teekay. The “Vladimir Voronin” on the 25th May left Sabetta and was on May 27th located in the Vilkitsky Strait north of the Taymyr Peninsula.

The ”Vladimir Voronin” is not accompanied by icebreaker. The “50 Let Pobedy” that escorted the “Vladimir Voronin” out of Sabetta and eastwards towards the Vilkitsky Strait has now returned and appears to be on its way back to Sabetta.

Link >> https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2020/05/tankers-cross-russian-arctic-route-without-icebreaker-assistance

[Juan C. García]

‘Zombie fires’ are erupting in Alaska and likely Siberia, signaling severe Arctic fire season may lie ahead
Move over, ‘murder hornets.’ There’s a new 2020 phenomenon to worry about.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/05/28/zombie-fires-burning-arctic-siberia/

Just by looking at it, it looks like the North Sea route will open earlier than usual. Very hot on the Russian side for two years, almost without winter. And even "zombie fires" that start in 2019 and continue in 2020.

[Juan C. García]

Just by looking at it, it looks like the North Sea route will open earlier than usual. Very hot on the Russian side for two years, almost without winter.

Two weeks later...

[Downpuppy]

3 more weeks & getting there

[blumenkraft]

North-east passage is open now.

[be cause]

If the mega crack becomes open sea is there a name for that route ?

[blumenkraft]

Yes, that's the north-west passage.

Edit: Wait, no! The northwest passage is through the CAA. But maybe that counts as north-west too?

[Aluminium]

Maybe north-north passage? Or north-south?

[igs]

For now Central Arctic Route would be an idea and later we can call it "Polar Route"


 

[HapHazard]

If the mega crack becomes open sea is there a name for that route ?

The OMG passage.

[interstitial]

Central Arctic Route    CAR


Take CAR to the other side of the world.

[KenB]

North-east passage is open now.

It seemed like it should be.  Just today I went looking for some kind of official announcement, but couldn't find anything.  Have you seen or heard something official?  If so, where, please?   Thanks!

[oren]

Usually I wait for Jim Hunt to proclaim it...
Jim?

[grixm]

As far as I understand the route is not officially open until the relevant authorities issues an ice chart that shows clear passage. This has not happened yet, it still shows blockage in the Kara. And I don't think regular ships will attempt the route without this sort of confirmation. Might happen next update though. http://www.nsra.ru/en/navigatsionnaya_i_gidrometinformatsiya/chart_ice_kara_sea.html

[Lord M Vader]

It is hard to see but the Northern Route has not opened up yet. Look very closely at the ice close to Severnaya Zemlya and you will see that ice is still blocking the Route. However, the Route will likely open up by next week.

[Stephan]

I guess the numbers in that Russian ice chart indicate tenth of ice coverage (e.g. 9 = 9/10 = 90%)

[grixm]

I guess the numbers in that Russian ice chart indicate tenth of ice coverage (e.g. 9 = 9/10 = 90%)

Yes it is annotated in the full picture in the link I posted.

[blumenkraft]

Looks to me as if a boat would fit there. Click to enlarge.

[P-maker]

By all means,

Please call it the circum-polar route.

[igs]

As far as I understand the route is not officially open until the relevant authorities issues an ice chart that shows clear passage. This has not happened yet, it still shows blockage in the Kara. And I don't think regular ships will attempt the route without this sort of confirmation. Might happen next update though. http://www.nsra.ru/en/navigatsionnaya_i_gidrometinformatsiya/chart_ice_kara_sea.html

This kind of seeking "official" agains visible, physical and mathematical  facts

The route is navigable, it think we're talking about the development and behaviour of the arctic ice in the first place and not about some russion civil cervants feeling fit to announce something today or tomorrow because it's i.e. Sunday.

<Removed irrelevant part. O>

[blumenkraft]

Circum-polar OMG north-northpole passage it is.

[grixm]

This kind of seeking "official" agains visible, physical and mathematical  facts is part of what
kept us to react to AGW in time, even though my teachers told me it will eventually happen about 60 years ago in school.

The route is navigable, it think we're talking about the development and behaviour of the arctic ice in the first place and not about some russion civil cervants feeling fit to announce something today or tomorrow because it's i.e. Sunday.

While I understand where you are coming from, a sea route opening is not a scientific event, it is shipping-related event. The route is open when the ships can start sailing it. And this does not equate there being no ice in the route, it equates the ships having confidence that there is no ice in the route. Because without this confidence, the ships will not attempt to sail the route, even if it would have worked if they gambled and tried anyway. And such confidence requires confirmation from a better source than just hobbyists peeking at low-resolution cloudy satellite images.

[Jim Hunt]

Jim?

Grixm got there before me!

According to the July 10th AARI chart for the Kara Sea there's also an "iceberg risk" in the Vilkitsky Strait, so let's wait for the next chart.

Plus see also: http://archive.is/9lT4q

Urgent information to mariners:

On July 10, at 13-39 UTC, the iceberg was discovered by the tanker "CHRISTOPHЕ DE MARGERIE"
at a radar detection distance of 20 miles.
Visually without aids 10 miles.
Coordinates 77-22.3 N - 109-52.9 E
Drift rate 0.7 knots. Drift direction 121 gr.
Approximate elevation above the water surface 25 m. Width 40-60 m.

On July 10, at 11-36 UTC, the tanker "CHRISTOPHE DE MARGERIE"  discovered an iceberg at a detection distance of 20 miles.Visually without aids 12 miles.Coordinates 77-21.8 N - 111-16.7 E.  Drift rate 0.5 knots. Drift direction 143 gr. Approximate elevation above the water surface 30 m, Width - Length 200-300 m, respectively.

There doesn't seem to be any other vessel in that vicinity at the moment, though there are a couple headed that way from the far east:

http://www.nsra.ru/en/grafik_dvijeniya_po_smp.html?date=2020-07-10

[HapHazard]

If I can do it in my kayak, then it's open.

Now someone just need to pay my way there to test the theory. 

[Juan C. García]

3 more weeks & getting there

There we are!!!
Time to take the kayak!!!

[Lord M Vader]

Sorry Juan but we have to wait a few more days until it is time to take the kayak. Ice is still blocking the Route just West of Severnaya Zemlya.

[HapHazard]

There we are!!!
Time to take the kayak!!!

[blumenkraft]

peeking at low-resolution cloudy satellite images.

Curious, do you consider Sentinel 2 low-res, Grixm?

[bluice]

I doubt it's only about resolution, but the potential hazards at sea. It must be different to sail a ship on the ocean than decide what's safe by looking at sat pictures on a computer screen. I'd rather trust the guys making their living by sailing the arctic icebreakers.

Are the individual drifting floes meters thick MYI or just soft rubble? Any chance of ice blocking the once opened channel? How is the wind, waves, visibility, weather forecast etc.

[Jim Hunt]

Curious, do you consider Sentinel 2 low-res, Grixm?

Do you have any hi-res cloud free images of the Vilkitsky Strait and the approaches thereto?

If so can you spot those icebergs?!

[blumenkraft]

Nah, SAR is better for spotting icebergs. But that is even lower-res.

I get your point though, Jim.

[Lord M Vader]

Worldview NASA hints about that the Northern Sea Route might have opened up today. Anyone who can confirm or refute that?

[gerontocrat]

Worldview NASA hints about that the Northern Sea Route might have opened up today. Anyone who can confirm or refute that?

The image says yes, but who makes it official?

[ArcticMelt2]

Worldview NASA hints about that the Northern Sea Route might have opened up today. Anyone who can confirm or refute that?

The image says yes, but who makes it official?

The official opening will be only in August.

https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/northeast-passage-to-open-in-mid-august-northwest-passage-expected-to-open-in-mid-september/




But the real opening happened as early as in 2011.


https://twitter.com/RARohde/status/1156567447228637184

Periods during the satellite era when the Arctic Ocean has been passable without the use of ice-breaking ships.

Such periods have become much more common since 2008, and the start of the 2019 season is the third earliest in the satellite record.

[Jim Hunt]

Who makes it official?

Here's some images of the latest AARI charts (dated July 14th):

[blumenkraft]

Ships moving in as Arctic sea ice level reaches record low. The Northern Sea Route is now completely open.

More than 50 vessels are currently sailing on the route, figures from the Northern Sea Route Administration show. Several of them are tankers bringing petroleum products from Arctic fields to Asian markets.

The first LNG carriers made it across the route already in late May, the earliest voyages on the route ever.

Link >> https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2020/07/ships-moving-arctic-sea-ice-level-reaches-record-low

List of ships >> http://nsra.ru/ru/grafik_dvijeniya_po_smp.html?date=2020-07-23

[vox_mundi]

US and Russia are having a pissing contest in the Arctic with toys that go boom ....

Navy Makes Unusual Public Display Of Its Secretive Seawolf Submarine's Presence Off Norway
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/35997/navy-makes-unusual-public-display-of-its-secretive-seawolf-submarines-presence-off-norway

Russian Submarine Sets Off Alarm Bells After Surfacing Near Alaska In the Bering Strait Amid Rash Of Posturing
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36056/russian-submarine-sets-off-alarm-bells-after-surfacing-near-alaska-amid-rash-of-posturing

[Paddy]

Shipping via the Northern Sea Route is expected to decline by 2.5 million tons in 2020 compared to 2019, due in large part to reduced Russian oil exports under current global economic circumstances https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2020/08/after-years-big-growth-comes-decline-russian-arctic-seaports
https://arctic.ru/economics/20200826/966534.html

EDIT: This seems a little counterintuitive in a year when the northern sea route has been this clear, but the numbers are what they are.

Incidentally, ships navigating the Northern Sea Route this year should include one of the world's largest sailing ships, the 100 year old bark Sedov. https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2020/08/hundred-years-old-tall-ship-sedov-embarks-historic-arctic-voyage

[Jim Hunt]

Incidentally, ships navigating the Northern Sea Route this year should include one of the world's largest sailing ships, the 100 year old bark Sedov.

See also: https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,596.msg283759.html#msg283759

[Peter Ellis]

So when do we think it'll close this year? Before or after the US election?

[Jim Hunt]

Via Glenn Buck on the "What's New" thread:

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/2021/02/arctic-shipper-shows-historical-icebreaking-voyage

It is the first time that a commercial vessel sails across the Northern Sea Route in February. The voyage of the Christophe de Margerie from Jiangsu in China to the remote Arctic terminal of Sabetta was made in the Arctic winter dark and through thick sea-ice...

The voyage proceeded through thick ice. The straits between the mainland and archipelagos Severnaya Zemlya and New Siberian Islands are covered by thick fast ice, while the remaining part of the area has one-year old sea-ice that is between 30-200 cm thick.

[Stephan]

If it wasn't for the Kara Sea it could be declared open...
Picture taken from aluminium's last gif in the 2021 melting season thread.

[Jim Hunt]

I missed this exciting news at the time, but it seems that "Chinese captain" Zhai Mo departed from Shanghai in his eponymously named and non ice hardened yacht in mid July, entered the Chukchi Sea and then got as far as the Vilkitsky Strait before being accosted by the Russian coastguard on August 8th or thereabouts: 

https://GreatWhiteCon.info/2021/09/chinas-arctic-ambitions/

His subsequent attempt at the Northwest Passage got as far as Baffin Bay before allegedly being "illegally stopped" by Canada.

[Jim Hunt]

According to the Barents Observer:

District authorities in the Russian Far East have decided to commission two icebreakers to aid the vessels currently ice-locked in the East Siberian Sea.

The nuclear-powered Yamal  is due to arrive in the region by 20th of November, while the diesel-powered Novorossiisk will arrive by 15th of November, regional authorities in Chukotka inform.

In addition will be sent the rescue vessel Spasatel Zaborshchikov.

The decision was this week taken by Yuri Trutnev, the Presidential Aide to the Russian Far East.

The commissioning of the powerful icebreaking vessels comes as severe sea-ice conditions have taken shippers by surprise. There are now about 20 vessels that either are stuck or struggling to make it across the icy waters.

[Freegrass]

Still a lot of ships on the route...

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:124.3/centery:75.4/zoom:3

[Freegrass]

Still a lot of ships on the route...

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:124.3/centery:75.4/zoom:3

Marinetraffic doesn't show any ships anymore in the Laptev and ESS, but according to this PR from 4 days ago some 20 ships are still stuck.

More icebreakers coming to aid Russian Arctic ships in need

The new super-powerful "Arktika" is on the way to help out ships locked in sea-ice.

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/2021/12/more-icebreakers-coming-aid-russian-arctic-ships-need

The Arktika on the 30th of November left St.Petersburg where it has undergone technical upgrades, and is due to arrive in Sabetta, Yamal Peninsula, on the 7th of December.

The powerful icebreaker, Russia’s first LK-60 vessel, on the 1st of December sailed out of the Gulf of Finland, shipping data from MarineTraffic show.

The Arktika will join three other nuclear-powered icebreakers that already are busy escorting ships across the increasingly icy waters. The Vaigach has for the past weeks been hectically engaged with icebreaking in the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea, where up to 20 ships have been locked in the ice.

This year’s early freeze in the Russian Arctic created a critical situation in the region and several ships are now several weeks behind their original time schedules.

As of 1st of December, the Vaigach escorted eight vessels across the northern parts of the Kara Sea. The major convoy has spent more than a week on an Arctic odyssey from the Laptev Sea and through the Vilkitsky Strait.

In the convoy is Finnish bulk carrier Kumpula, as well as oil tanker Vladimir Rusanov and cargo ships Selenga, Severnyi Proect, Mekhanik Pustoshnyy, Grigoryy Shelikhov, RZK Constanta and Turukhan. All of the vessels have been escorted several thousand kilometres from the easternmost part of the Russian Arctic.

Meanwhile, the Yamal is busy breaking ice in the Gulf of Ob, and the Taymyr was on 1st of December sailing down the Bay of Yenisey towards the Kara Sea.

[Jim Hunt]

More icebreakers coming to aid Russian Arctic ships in need

Probably a slightly dubious translation from the Russian? The assorted "stuck" ships were escorted through the Vilkitsky Strait quite some time ago:

https://GreatWhiteCon.info/2021/10/facts-about-the-arctic-in-november-2021/#comment-514674

According to assorted ship tracking sites Arktika is currently en route to Murmansk.

[Jim Hunt]

Another NSR update in slightly dodgy English from the Barents Observer today:

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2021/12/ships-complete-historical-passage-northern-sea-route

After a month of icy captivity and subsequent icebreaker rescue, a convoy of nine vessels this week made it to safety in the Kara Sea.

A Russian nuclear icebreaker on the 7th of December completed the escort of ships that started in the far eastern Arctic, almost six thousand kilometres away.

It has been a historical passage on the route, General Director of Atomflot Mustafa Kashka says in a comment.

He praises the captain of the Vaigach, Mikhail Goncharenko, who successfully managed to bring the many ships into safe haven.

“It was his first voyage after his appointment and he truly demonstrated that he is a worthy descendent of our school of Arctic captains,” Kashka underlines.

[Freegrass]

Thanks for the clarification Jim. It does look like they have all been rescued now.

The last PR you posted has this in the end.

Leader of the company’s Northern Sea Route Directorate Vyacheslav Ruksha has already made clear that Russia must increase the number of LK-60 icebreakers to seven in order to successfully implement a year-round shipping regime on the Northern Sea Route.

Lets hope this won't lead to any accidents and oil spills in the future... 

[Jim Hunt]

Commercial traffic along the main Northern Sea Route has already begun:

https://GreatWhiteCon.info/2022/06/the-northern-sea-route-in-2022/

The liquified natural gas carrier Nikolay Yevgenov has reached open water in the Chukchi Sea, en route to the Far East. Further west the recently commissioned nuclear powered icebreaker Sibir is currently escorting Georgiy Brusilov, another ice hardened LNG carrier, through the Vilkitsky Strait: