Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Northern Sea Route opening delayed due to ice
Shipping through the Northern Sea Route, which cuts transit times in half for vessels sailing between North Europe and Asia, will be delayed this year due to the ice situation, according to the NSR Office.
No ships have transited the NSR this season, according to the Norway-based NSR Information Office.
"Due to ice conditions, active transit navigation on NSR starts later this season," said Sergey Balmsov, the head of the NSR Information Office in Murmansk, Russia. "We will see more vessels in September and October."
The Northern Sea Route is typically open from July through November, and approximately 71 ships made the voyage last year, according to South Korea’s Yongsan University.
"The guys most likely to use it would be people shipping LNG cargoes from Snohvit in Norway or possibly reloads from Zeebrugge, Belgium," said Tony Regan, an energy consultant at Tri-Zen International Inc. in Singapore.
Shipping from Murmansk in northwest Russia to Japan through the Arctic spans 6,010 miles and takes about 18 days, compared to the 12,291 miles and 37 days it takes to go through the Suez Canal, says the NSR Information Office website.
For more of the Bloomberg story: www.bloomberg.com
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