As the ice cover is rapidly decreasing in the Arctic, and the shipping industry is facing challenges due to the piracy threat in the Indian Ocean and general instability in the Middle East, Russian authorities have registered an augmented interest in the North East Passage. The interest is sparked by what appears as a clear strategy from Russian authorities to promote their “Northern Sea Route”. However, there is currently no mandatory international instrument that addresses the specific challenges related to the vulnerable environment, the ice conditions and the general lack of infrastructure in polar waters.
September 2010 Tschudi Shipping Company performed a successful passage from Kirkenes, Norway to Lianyungang China, assisted by Russian atomic ice breakers. The Norwegian based shipping company estimated that the MV “Nordic Barents” travelled half the distance and saved 17.5 days and 500 mt of fuel compared with a passage through the Suez Canal. Even though the North East Passage does not represent a full year alternative, and it requires assistance and cooperation with Russian authorities, the route seems to offer an interesting option. According to Tschudi Shipping, what offers the most commercially interesting opportunity is however not the entire route, but transshipments between Russian and Asian ports.
In the summer months of 2011, the Russian authorities have made several other steps to promote the North East Passage as a viable alternative transport route to Asia. Representatives from all the permanent members of the Arctic Council, including Norwegian State Secretary Erik Lahnstein, were in August 2011 invited by high level Russian authorities to participate on a five day stretch along the “Northern Sea Route” on the ice breaker “Yamal”. Later in the month, some 120 000 MT of oil were transferred through an STS operation in Sarnesfjorden, Norway to the tanker “Vladimir Tikhanov”. The 162000 DWT supertanker, will be the largest tanker to have ever passed through the North East Passage on its way to port in Thailand.
Nevertheless, while shipping in the Indian Ocean struggles with security issues, safety and environmental impacts are the main concerns related to Arctic shipping. The Secretary-General of the IMO Mr. Efthimios E. Mitropoulos recently marked the expansion of new areas by the promulgation of navigational warnings (NAVAREAs) in the Arctic, and stated the following concerning the challenges related to shipping in these waters:
“The opening up of the Arctic will be a double-edged sword. Depending on your perspective, it represents either a world of new business opportunities or, on the other hand, an unwelcome extension of the human footprint into areas still, at the moment, predominantly pristine.”
The ongoing process in the IMO in developing a mandatory code for Ships operating in Polar Waters (the Polar Code) will be of particular importance for shipping in polar waters.
Norway, represented by the Norwegian Maritime Directorate, heads the correspondence group set up to develop the code. However, a mandatory code is not expected to be in force before 2015.
The Polar Code is meant to apply to all new SOLAS-vessels operating in the Arctic as well as the Antarctic. An open question is how these additional requirements will relate to the classification societies’ ice-class standards. Additionally, one issue that is expected to raise some controversy is to what extent the Polar Code will apply to existing ships, forcing the operators to make technical adaptations to continue operating in polar waters. Insofar it is also undecided whether the Polar Code will apply also to non-SOLAS ships, such as for instance fishing vessels. It should also be mentioned that one of the main challenges when operating in polar waters is the great distance to shorebased SAR and contingency facilities. It is thus reason to believe that the Polar Code could impose stricter requirements on the contingency equipment on board.
A passage through the North East Passage will further not only have to rely on international legislation, as Russian Coastal state rules will have to be taken into consideration when transiting in its territorial and internal waters. A federal draft law concerning “state regulation of commercial navigation on the route in the waters of the Northern Sea Route” is currently under consideration. The proposal lays down the main requirements for sailing along the route, in particular to strictly forbid the discharge of environmentally harmful substances in the area. UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) article 21 allows to a certain extent the coastal state to adopt laws and regulations in relation to the preservation of the environment. From a shipping point of view it would be of considerable interest if the international flag state legislation and the Russian coastal state legislation are harmonized.