Transit voyages at the NSR in 2024.

Information on transit traffic at the NSR is presented as of the date of publication on August 7, 2024. The information includes voyages that started from the end of June to the beginning of August 2024. Most of them have not been completed yet. Ports of destination and cargo quantities are given as estimated.

Ice is still present in the eastern sector of the NSR preventing free passage of ships without ice class.  The nuclear icebreaker Sibir has been operating in the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas since the end of June together with the nuclear icebreaker Vaygach, which has been in the area since mid-July. In several areas of the Chukchi and East Siberian Seas heavy ice conditions are still observed, which directly affects the admission of low ice class vessels to these areas. The western part of the NSR is mostly ice-free. Below is a map of ice conditions as of August 7, 2024.

At the time of publication, we had registered 16 transit voyages. Of these, 9 in the eastern direction and 7 in the western direction, including 2 transit voyages made in winter 2024. There are no vessels without ice class that have started transit voyages. The minimum ice class is Ice-2.  So far transportation is carried out only between Russian ports or between Russia and China. Interactive map of all transit voyages is presented below.

When it comes to transit cargo volumes, we see that cargo mainly goes to the eastern direction. Here we have 4 large crude oil tankers transporting 367 280 tons of crude oil, one bulk carrier with 100 000 tons of coal and one with 43 300 tons of fertilizers. Westbound are 2 container ships Xin Xin Hai 1 – cargo data not yet known and Xin Xin Hai 2, which has 3,798 tons of containerized cargo on board. All voyages’ details are presented in the interactive table below.

Based on the number of issued Permits for the right of transit passage through the NSR it can be assumed that soon the number of transit shipments will increase as ice conditions improve. We plan to update information on transit traffic monthly, next time not later than the first decade of September 2024.