Winter is quickly approaching in the Arctic and large parts of the far northern shipping route that connects the Pacific with the North Atlantic will soon be covered by a solid layer of sea-ice. Nevertheless, there is still a significant level of shipping activity in the area, the Barents Observer reports.
According to the Northern Sea Route Administration, the Russian route management authority, there were in the second week October more than 60 ships sailing in the area between the Bering Strait and Barents Sea.
Far from all of them are built for shipments through rough Arctic waters. A closer look at the vessels shows that a big number of them have either minimal ice-class or no ice class at all.
At least 11 of the vessels that have sailed transit across the route since the beginning of October have no ice-class whatsoever. Most of them are bulk carriers, among them the Platos, Portia, Dodo, Great Wenchang, Libra-XS, Smoke, Tand Land. But there were also oil tankers.
Neither the Aquatica, nor the Meru, have hulls made for icy waters and risk serious damage and accidents in the area. The two tankers are 243 and 274 meter long respectively, have a deadweight of 106,061 tons and 159,999 tons. They are sailing under the flags of Panama and Sierra Leone.
Judging from information from the Northern Sea Route Administration, both tankers made it across the route from east to west in late September or early October. They are 19 and 24 years old.
There are also a zero ice-class container ship, as well as a heavy lift vessel, now sailing in the area. Container carrier NewNew Panda 1 is 264 meter long and is sailing from Nansha, China, to St.Petersburg. Heavy lift carrier Ocean-28 is on its way from Zhangjiagang, China.
According to ship tracking services, the latter’s destination is a port in Norway.
