Following the transit of the first Western owned vessels through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in 2009, through-traffic increased up until 2016 but then plummeted. Declining freight markets and fuel costs, difficult ice conditions, and scarcity of commercial ice-strengthened vessels, markedly reduced the economic value of the time saved by using the shorter sea route. Cargo volumes picked up again in 2017 with an increase of nearly 40%, although from a small number
Destination traffic in the area almost quadrupled from 2013 to 2017. This was mainly due to the Sabetta liquid natural gas (LNG) facility on the Yamal Peninsula. In August 2017, the first of fifteen ice-strengthened vessels being built for this purpose set out to demonstrate its ability by travelling through the Northern Sea Route in record speed and for the first time without icebreaker escort.
Transits have also been made through the Northwest Passage, with one of the most notable being the cruise vessel Crystal Serenity in 2016. Within the cruise industry, today’s focus is more on expedition cruises with smaller custom-built vessels destined for Arctic waters to offer guests a more “intimate experience”. Several of these vessels are now on order.
With changing ice conditions potentially opening the high Arctic as a trade route, a gradual increase in the volume of Arctic shipping can be expected, particularly for destination traffic in connection to energy, fisheries and tourism.
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