The route is becoming ever more appealing to the shipping industry, especially to the oil and gas sector, as it is much shorter than the Suez Canal.
It is gaining on importance amid the reduction of ice in the Arctic and the design of new ice-breaking commercial vessels, which have made the transportation of abundant Arctic natural energy resources commercially viable.
“We plan to carry out a one-off trial passage of the Northern Sea Route from East to West by passing the Bering strait on or around September 1, 2018 and planned arrival in Saint Petersburg by end September. The vessel will be one of our new ice class container vessels of 3,600 TEU,” the company spokesperson confirmed to World Maritime News.
Reports from various media outlets said that the ship designated for the trip is Venta Maersk, which will head out from Vladivostok via the Bering Strait to St. Petersburg with a cargo of frozen fish.
The voyage will start once the company gets the all-clear from Russian authorities following their evaluation of ice conditions. Maersk’s boxship will be provided with ice breaker assistance during the voyage.
“The trial passage will enable us to explore the operational feasibility of container shipping through the Northern Sea Route and to collect data. Currently, we do not see the Northern Sea Route as a commercial alternative to our existing network which is defined by our customers’ demand, trading patterns and population centres,” the statement reads.
The plans are being revealed on the back of a new transit record for the NSR achieved by Christophe de Margerie, an icebreaking LNG carrier owned and operated by Russian shipping company Sovcomflot.
Namely, the vessel covered the distance of 2,360 nautical miles eastward, from the port of Sabetta (Yamal Peninsula) to Cape Dezhnev (the Bering Strait), in just seven days and 17 hours during the month of July, SCF informed.
丹麥工業主要APMoller Maersk即將派一艘集裝箱船通過北海航線，作為旨在收集科學數據的試運行的一部分。
這條航線對航運業越來越有吸引力，特別是對石油和天然氣部門而言，因為它比蘇伊士運河短得多。
在北極冰川減少和新的破冰商船的設計中，它正在變得越來越重要，這使得北極豐富的天然能源的運輸具有商業可行性。
“我們計劃在2018年9月1日左右通過白令海峽，計劃於9月底前抵達聖彼得堡，從東到西進行北海航線的一次性試航。該船將成為我們新的3,600 TEU的冰集裝箱船之一，“公司發言人向世界海事新聞證實。
來自各媒體的報導說，這次旅行的船隻是Venta Maersk，它將從海參崴通過白令海峽前往聖彼得堡，帶著一堆冷凍魚。
一旦公司在冰情評估後獲得俄羅斯當局的全面清理，這一航程就將開始。馬士基的航行將在航行期間提供破冰協助。
“試驗通道將使我們能夠探索通過北海航線的集裝箱運輸的運作可行性並收集數據。目前，我們並未將北海航線視為我們現有網絡的商業替代方案，該網絡由客戶的需求，交易模式和人口中心定義，“聲明中寫道。
該計劃正在由俄羅斯航運公司Sovcomflot擁有和運營的破冰液化天然氣運輸公司Christophe de Margerie實現的NSR 新運輸記錄背面揭示。
也就是說，該船隻在距離Sabetta（亞馬爾半島）港口到Cape Dezhnev（白令海峽）向東2,360海裡的距離，在7月份的7天和17個小時內，SCF通知。
Information source: World Maritime News Staff; Image Courtesy: Maersk
