NSR Shipping Traffic – Activities in November 2020
In November, the summer-autumn navigation period ends on the Northern Sea Route. As a reflection of this fact – the number of voyages this month – 187 and ships operating on the NSR – 92. However, the growth trend of shipping traffic on the NSR compared to previous years continues (see the chart on the map).
This month, nuclear icebreakers returned to work on the NSR passages, among them a new icebreaker “Arktika”. On November 16, the leading universal nuclear icebreaker “Arktika” departed from the port of Murmansk on its first working voyage and headed towards the Kara Sea. Until mid-December, it will operate in the water area of the Northern Sea Route. After the first voyage, the icebreaker will return to the port of Murmansk to replenish supplies, and at the end of December it will again head to the water area of the Northern Sea Route. As noted in “Atomflot”, the nuclear ship will support winter-spring navigation in the Arctic. Project 22220 icebreaker “Arktika” was built by JSC ” Baltic Shipyard ” by order of the state corporation “Rosatom”. It became the largest and most powerful nuclear icebreaker in the world. Earlier, after sea and ice trials, the vessel arrived at the home port of Murmansk. (Source: www.interfax.ru)
Despite the strengthening of the icebreaker fleet, in general, the ice class of ships operating on the NSR in November 2020 is almost the same as in November 2019. The ships of Arc 7 ice class did the most work. Among the vessels with weak ice reinforcement in November 2020, the Ice 2 class stands out (14 voyages): all these voyages were from Arkhangelsk / Murmansk to Kharasavey and back, among them 12 voyages made by general cargo vessels, 1 by bulk carrier and 1 by tug.
In November, transit voyages continued, although not in such a large number – 3 passages. All transits were carried out between Russian ports. By the type of vessels, it was 1 general cargo vessel “UHL Partner” (Ust-Luga – Vostochnyy), 1 supply vessel “SCF Sakhalin” (Kholmsk – Murmansk) and 1 tanker “Boris Vilkitskiy” (Beringovskiy – Murmansk).