NSR Shipping Traffic – Activities in May 2021

In May 2021, the indicators of shipping traffic on the Northern Sea Route reached their highest values ​​since the beginning of the year. Thus, 197 voyages were made by 60 vessels, that was also more than in May of previous years (see the graph on the map). In terms of the voyages number performed by cargo vessels, there is a big gap from the corresponding value in the previous months. It should be noted that the ice situation in May remained difficult, the first melting began only in mid-June. A notable difference between May traffic of 2021 and 2020 was the absence of early LNG tanker voyages eastward. There were two such shipments in May 2020.

Almost all ships, whose route to / from the NSR traditionally runs via the Kara Gate Straight, have returned to normal navigation (only 8 voyages were made via the Kara Gate in April 2021, for comparison, 47 – in May). And at the end of May, even 4 ships left the waters of the Northern Sea Route via the narrow strait Yugorskiy Shar (2 icebreakers and 2 general cargo ships). For comparison, in 2020, the first passage via the Yugorskiy Shar took place only on June 28.

Although there were no early voyages to the east in May, there was work under a new project in the Yenisey Bay – the “Sever Bay” terminal. The new terminal will be located in 40 km from the port of Dikson. The oil produced at the Payakhskoye field will be shipped here. The vessels of high ice class, including “Mikhail Somov”, delivered about 20 thousand tons of cargo to Taimyr peninsula, including heavy construction equipment, shift housing complexes, communication equipment, as well as materials for the arrangement of shift camps. The next step will be the construction of hydraulic structures, storage facilities for material and technical resources and berthing facilities on the Yenisei Bay.