Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.
Issue link: https://uscgproceedings.epubxp.com/i/149372
The Northern Sea Route SeaRouteforregularoil,gas,anddrybulktransportationbetweenEuropeandAsia. Duringtheworkshop,itbecameclearthattheRussianauthoritieswelcomedtheideaofincreasedshippingintheNSR,whichgaveaclearsignalthatsuch increasedtraffcwouldbefacilitated.Basedonthis outcome,Tschuditooktheinitiative,withtheDanish operatorNordicBulkCarriersandanumberofother parties,totrytorealizeacommercialpassageofthe NSR. Above left: USCG Rear Admiral Christopher Colvin (right) and CAPT Craig Lloyd (center), greet Russian Lt. Gen. Raphael Alexseevich Daerbaev (left), upon his arrival to Kodiak, Alaska, in April 2011. Above right: The Russian tanker Renda transits toward the Port of Nome, Jan. 13, 2012. U.S. Coast Guard photos by Petty Offcer Charly Hengen. ■ The Northern Sea Route shortens the distance between the Atlantic and the Pacifc by 40 to 60 percent, depending on the location of loading and discharging ports. ■ The navigational season is from July to November. ■ The NSR stretches from Novaya Zemlya to the Bering Strait and is under Russian jurisdiction. Permission to pass is granted by the Northern Sea Route Administration in Moscow. ■ NSR Project 2010 ThestakeholderscalledthisefforttheNSRProject 2010;andinSeptember2010,thebulkcarrierM/V Nordic Barents completedthevoyagefromKirkenes totheportofLianyungang,China,savingapproximately17days,comparedtotransitingtheSuezCanal. TransitingtheNorthernSeaRouteshortenedthevoyagebynearly5,700nauticalmiles,savingabout500 metrictonsoffuel,withcorrespondingreductionsin environmentalemissions.Anadditionalbonus:No pirates. Rosatomfot icebreaker escort is mandatory, at a cost that is roughly equivalent to Suez Canal passage. AsRussiahasregularlyusedtheroutesincethe1930s, thesignificanceofthetransitwasnotthepassage itself,butthatitwascarriedoutbyanon-Russianvesselcarryinganon-RussiancargobetweentwononRussianports.Inthisway,theNSRproveditselfa viableinternationalcommercialtraderoute. The Russian icebreaker Yamal, Canadian icebreaker Louis S. St. Laurent, and the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea rendezvous near the North Pole. U.S. Coast Guard photo by LCDR Steve Wheeler. 18 Proceedings Summer 2013 Operational Lessons Learned JulytoNovemberisthenavigationalseasonandthe NSRhasbeenpracticallyice-freeduringthemonths ofAugustandSeptemberforthepastfewyears.The varyingdepthsandincompletehydrographicsurveyingforcertainareaslimittherouteoptions,but Russianauthoritiesareconductingongoingsurveys, whichwillincreasenavigationaloptions. www.uscg.mil/proceedings