The Northeast Passage and the Transpolar Sea Route

The opening of the Transpolar Sea Route

Francesca Sileo

April 25, 2023

The Northeast Passage

Historically, the European concept of the Northeast Passage was a channel that traversed the entire distance between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The Northeast Passage stretches generally eastward via the ice-free Norwegian and Barents seas around the Scandinavian Peninsula and across northwestern Russia to the Kara Strait, which separates the Barents and Kara seas. From there it continues eastward through the Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi seas before turning southward to go through the Bering Strait between northeastern Siberia and western Alaska, U.S.

The portion of the Northeast Passage between the Kara and Bering straits remains ice-bound for most of the year and thus is the most difficult for ships to transit. However, first, the Soviet Union and then Russia developed and maintained a navigable channel roughly 3,500 miles in length–the distance can vary significantly, depending on the route followed–through this most challenging part of the passage.

European interest in finding the Northeast Passage as a potential trade route to the east grew in the 16th century, beginning with exploration by the English in the 1560s and 1580s and the Dutch navigator Willem Barents in the 1590s. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Russian expeditions established that there was a continuous east to west maritime route through the Eurasian Arctic.

In 1648, the Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnyov sailed southward through the Bering Strait, though his report of the journey was unknown for nearly 90 years. Under the authority of the Russian tsar Peter I the Great, Danish navigator Vitus Bering ventured northward through the strait in 1728 and determined that Asia and North America were two separate continents. However, the first British naval captain James Cook was the first to see both sides of the strait in 1778 and to prove the separation of the continents.

Because of the large amount of impenetrable sea ice in the Northeast Passage for all but short periods of time in the summer months, it took many attempts before it was first fully traversed, which took place in 1878-79 on an expedition led by the Swedish explorer Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld.

In the 1920s the newly established Soviet Union began developing the Northern Sea Route as a shipping lane, and domestic cargo ships started using portions of it during the summer months int eh 1930s. The first successful one-season through-transit of the passage was by a Soviet icebreaker in 1934. Portions of the route were used between 1942 and 1945 during World War II by ships carrying Allied supplies from cities on the U.S. West Coast to ports in northern Siberia, notably Tiksi at the eastern edge of the Lena River delta. Domestic regional shipping grew after the war, made easier by improved navigational aids, a growing fleet of icebreakers to allow passage through the sea ice, and a lengthening shipping season–the latter having become year-round in the western section by 1980.

In the late 1960s the Soviet Union made some overtures toward allowing foreign ships to use the Northeast Passage, but they did not officially open it to foreign shipping until 1991. However, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union late that year, Russia subsequently experienced years of economic slowdowns and political instability, which negatively affected the operation of the passage. Shipping through it declined into the early years of the 21st century, after which domestic use of it began to increase again. Interest by foreign shippers in using the passage also grew at that time as the Russians introduced more sophisticated icebreakers and made improvements to port facilities along the route–aided also by a general trend toward longer ice-free periods each year. The first full traverse of the route by foreign merchant ships occurred in 2009. In 2010 a passenger ferry and a tanker ship (both Russian) each became the first of its kind to successfully navigate the passage's entire length.

The Northeast Passage (NEP) is a shipping route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans along the Arctic coasts of Russia and Norway. It is the fact that Northeast Passage makes the distance between Europe and Asia up to three times shorter which allows commercial shipping companies to navigate in a very efficient way, that is faster and cheaper.

The Northeast Passage runs from the northernmost parts of the North Sea across the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean north of Russia, east to the Chukchi Sea and Bering Straits where access to the North Pacific is reached. Several straits in the Passage can be classified as international. It is a shorter alternative to the traditional shipping route through the Suez Canal.

The Northeast Passage is limited in use because of extreme natural conditions based on the geographical location of the passage. The route is only navigable during the summer months when the Arctic ice melts and creates a navigable channel.

The Northeast Passage has become increasingly important in recent years due to the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by global warming. It is an attractive option for shipping companies because of the shorter distance and reduced travel time compared to the Suez Canal. However, the route is still challenging to navigate due to icebergs, storms, and other hazards, and it requires specialized ice-class vessels and experienced crews.

The first traverse of the route was done in the late 1800s by Swedish explorer Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. However, the first one-season traverse was done by a Soviet icebreaker in 1934. In 2009, foreign merchant ships began traversing the passage.

The Northern Sea Route

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is a Russian-designated area of the Northeast Passage and is also frequently used for the shipping of liquified natural gas from the Yamal Peninsula in western Siberia. In 2016, China Ocean Shipping Company sent 5 vessels through the route. In 2018, a list of applications for the use of the NSR included mostly ice breakers, LNG carriers, supply ships, and bulk and general cargo ships. A large percentage of the vessels hold an ice class rating indicating the ship's suitability for the ice that is encountered on the journey.

Northeast Passage ports

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Sabetta

Sabetta is the location of a port and liquified natural gas plant on the Yamal Peninsula, in the north of Russia along the Northeast Passage.

Dudinka

Dudinka is an important point in the Northeast Passage freight transportation. The port handles piece goods, oil, timber, manufactured goods, food, minerals, including coal, sulfur, and ore, scap metal and so on.

Khatanga

The seaport of Khatanga is located on the right shore of the Khatanga River flowing into Khatanga Bay in the Laptev Sea, 115 miles from the mouth. Commodities and refrigerated cargoes, various general cargoes for the Arctic urban areas, timber and bulk freights (coal, sand and gravel mixtures), and bulk oil cargoes are handled at the port.

Tiksi

Tiksi Bay is a bay of the Laptev Sea that cuts into the northern part of the Sakha Republic, Russia. The bay was first surveyed by Russian Arctic explorer Dmitry Laptev in 1739.

Pevek

Pevek is a modern settlement established after World War I to provide a port for the export of minerals as part of expanding the Northern Sea Route. Pevek is the present location of the Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear power plant, which carries two marine-type nuclear reactors.

the Transpolar Sea Route

The Transpolar Sea Route (TSR) is a future Arctic shipping route running from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean across the center of the Arctic Ocean. In contrast to the Northeast Passage (including the Northern Sea Route) it largely avoids the territorial waters of Arctic states and lies in international high seas.

The route is currently only navigable by heavy icebreakers. However, due to the increasing decline of Arctic sea ice extent, the route is slated to emerge as the predominant Arctic shipping route by 2030.

As climate change accelerates and the Arctic Ocean reluctantly exchanges its year-round ice cap for merely seasonal cover, this transpolar passage is likely to open up by mid-century, if not sooner.

If Arctic sea ice disappears even for just one summer, as the comprehensive 2009 Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment notes (p. 34), this would spell “the disappearance of multi-year sea ice in the central Arctic Ocean. Such an occurrence would have significant implications for design, construction, and operational standards of all future Arctic marine activities.” In the absence of thick multi-year ice, which can be up to five meters deep, any water that refreezes would take the form of much thinner, more navigable seasonable ice.

Forget needing nuclear icebreakers, within the next few decades, in summer, it may be possible (even if insurance companies and the Polar Code still mandate polar-class, ice-resistant ships) to sail in a regular vessel across the top of the Earth.

In a world where timeliness means the difference between loss and profit, the Transpolar Passage could prove enticing, just as the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage do. For journeys between Europe and Asia, the Northern Sea Route can already be two to three weeks faster than the Suez Canal. By cutting straight across the Arctic, the Transpolar Passage could save a further two days.

Fast shipping isn’t everything, of course. Besides time, shipowners also consider risks and costs, and polar shipping still is a more dangerous and pricier undertaking due to the advanced types of ships required, insurance costs, and icebreaker escort fees. Most shipping these days also follows the pendulum model, with vessels stopping at ports between their origin and destination to make deliveries. This logistics chain requires markets, of which there are obviously none in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.

Climate Change

The world’s largest nation, China, sees a planet that is inevitably getting much, much warmer. Even if the planet were to stop emitting all greenhouse gases today, those that already have been emitted into the atmosphere will still induce warming effects for years to come. Since we don’t appear to be doing much to limit our emissions, we are headed for a warmer world – one where the Arctic ice cap may be gone in summer by 2050, and possibly even sooner.

The only country that seems to be ready for that reality is China. In its Arctic Policy, released in January 2018, China calls the trans-Arctic passage the “Central Passage.” Unlike the Northeast and Northwest Passages, the Transpolar Passage would run mostly through the high seas, where all countries have freedom of navigation, rather than through any waters that could be claimed as internal. China would not be beholden to any government’s regulations when sailing there.