Northern Sea Route

The Northeast Passage is a sea route in the Arctic Ocean along the northern coasts of Europe and Asia, from the White Sea to the Bering Strait. The Northeast Passage is about 6,500 kilometers long.

History

Preliminary investigations of the Northeast Passage found in the 16th century held by English and Dutch navigator Willem Barents like, but failed in the pack ice. After three unsuccessful expeditions in the years 1594-1596, the Dutch took the time being no further attempts to find the passage. Early 17th century Russian seal hunters and traders arrived to Cape Tscheljuskin; 1648 circumnavigated Semyon Deschnjow and F. A. Popov the Chukchi Peninsula. Other Siberian coastal areas were explored from 1733 during the Second Kamchatka by Vitus Bering.

The Bernese Samuel Engel (1702-1784) wrote geographical treatises on the possibility of a Northeast Passage.

Crossing

The first complete trip, with a wintering, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld succeeded in 1878/79. It was not until 53 years later ( 1932) succeeded in the icebreaker Alexander Sibiryakov the first passage without wintering. Then sent out to the Soviet Union, the headquarters Northern sea route one. In the summer of 1940, the German auxiliary cruiser Komet came with the help of Russian icebreaker through the North Sea Passage in its area of ​​operations in the Pacific. In the 1950s and 1960s, the maritime been developed systematically through the ports system Dikson, Tiksi, Pevek and Provideniya and shipping period is extended by the use of powerful icebreaker. So needed in May / June 1978, the nuclear-powered icebreaker Sibir 18 days of traveling from Murmansk to the Bering Strait.

The western part (Section Kara Sea with the ports of Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Dudinka in Norilsk ) is now almost used all year round, especially ores are transported westward and eastward supplies. In the eastern section ( Nordvik, Tiksi, Pevek ) the passage way is restricted by heavy pack ice that must be passed sections so that the transport volume in 1989 only about one-tenth of the western portion was and the ports are supplied mainly from the east.

The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted because of the relatively high transport costs (especially icebreakers, Eisaufklärung ) in a market economy to a decrease of vessel traffic, so that the Northern Sea Route has now been virtually unused, with serious consequences for Situated on him cities like Tiksi, prostrate lie which has since and increasingly depopulated.

Climatic changes could allow the passage be economically re: The sea route between Europe and Asia (Rotterdam, Tokyo ) through the Suez Canal is 21.1 thousand kilometers, the route through the Northwest Passage has a length of 15,900 kilometers, whereas the route through the Northeast Passage with only 14,100 miles is the shortest. The Northeast and the Northwest Passage were ice-free in late August 2008 for the first time. In subsequent years, the Northeast Passage has always been ice-free for several weeks between August and early October, with the duration of patency seems ever expanding.

The amount of transported through the Northeast Passage goods increased from 2010 to 2011 by more than seven-fold to 820,000 tonnes. When driving a Chinese icebreaker from the Pacific Ocean to Iceland to explore purposes in August 2012, less ice was encountered as expected, was chosen so that a closer to the North Pole by leading route for the return trip.

In shipping, 2013 season 71 commercial trips were counted through the Northeast Passage, about seven times as many as in 2010.

The Bremen-based Beluga shipping company in 2009, first used the Northeast Passage with two merchant ships and so saved 5400 km sea crossing over the traditional route through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean. The 21 August 2009 ruptured vessels Beluga Fraternity of Vladivostok and Beluga Foresight have ice class E3 according to shipping company's data and are suitable for northern waters. On the way to Europe one stopover in the Siberian port Nowy Port was inserted. Were passed the ships of the Russian captains.

In July 2010, the first time drove two tankers of the Russian shipping company Sowkomflot the Northeast Passage. The two ships Warzuga and Indiga were accompanied from Vladivostok to Pevek in Eastern Siberia of an icebreaker. 2010, a total of ten vessels have taken the opportunity to passage. 2011, there were already 34 ships with 0.8 million tons of cargo and in 2012 reported 46 ships with 1.26 million tons. About the icebreaker escort, insurance premiums plus risk premiums of these trips there is no information. The Russian authorities charge a fee.

Meanwhile, the expansion of the Northeast Passage has been declared a major traffic artery and an official objective of the Russian government. The end of 2011 a new law to clarify the legal framework of the future use was adopted. In addition, significant investment in the modernization and expansion of the icebreaker fleet and the accompanying infrastructure of the ship's route were adopted ( such as the acquisition of modern communication and navigation means ). The port Sabetta has been constructed since 2013; it is to serve the export of liquefied gas.