The Northern Sea Route - is the shortest shipping line connecting the eastern and western hemispheres. If the path from Murmansk to Yokohama via the Suez Canal is more than 12,000 nautical miles, the Northern Sea Route is twice shorter.
Experts estimate that the volume of traffic on this route has increased since 1980 by 5-6 times. Basically, it is used by companies involved in the implementation of the Arctic projects: "Rosneft", "Norilsk Nickel", "Gazprom", and Siberian regions. In 1991, Russia opened the Northern Sea Route for international navigation, but foreign companies began to show their interest relatively recently, as the Arctic ice began to melt. In 2009, two commercial ships proceeded through the Northern Sea Route. In 2011 – 34 ships used this path. For comparison, Suez Canal annually hosts 18 thousand vessels.
Potentially, the Northern Sea Route is a much more efficient route than the Suez and Panama canals. It is shorter, and therefore, the route takes less fuel, less cost of the vessel freight and staff salary. In contrast to Egypt and Panama, Russia does not charge a fee for passage through the Northern Sea Route. Ships have no need to stand in line; moreover this region is free from pirates. The main obstacle to the establishment of intensive navigation is climate. These waters are frozen, so most time of the year the vessel in the North Sea Route requires icebreaking facilities.
However, the trade turnover on the route is growing. New projects of the Arctic development, climate change and the growth of Russian icebreaking fleet increase economic ant transport importance of the Northern Sea Route. It is estimated that by 2019, freight traffic here will grow 10 times. In the future – 20 times, up to 50 million tons annually.
