Russian tanker transits Arctic’s Northeast Passage
First winter voyage from Europe to Asia
OTTAWA — A Russian tanker laden with liquefied natural gas has become the first ship of its kind to complete a winter voyage from northern Europe to Asia via the melting Arctic Ocean.
The 6,000-kilometre journey through the Northern Sea Route by the LNG carrier Ob River slashed 20 days off the traditional route, cut fuel consumption by 40 per cent and established a viable new year-round route for energy markets and global trade through the once-impenetrable polar ice cap. The feat ended Thursday when Ob River, chartered by the Russian gas giant Gazprom, arrived without incident at the port of Tobata in southwest Japan with 134,000 cubic metres of liquefied natural gas loaded at Hammerfest in northern Norway.
The Northern Sea Route, also known as the Northeast Passage, is a treacherous shipping lane running from Murmansk in the Barents Sea, along Russia’s Arctic coast to the Bering Strait. It links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans without having to transit the Suez or Panama canals, reducing travel distances by thousands of kilometres.
Two German bulk cargo carriers successfully navigated the iceberg-infested passage in the summer of 2009 on a trip from South Korea to the Netherlands. But no mariners have attempted a winter passage of such magnitude.
The Ob River’s voyage began Nov. 7, when the large carrier left port and rendezvoused with a nuclearpowered Russian icebreaker escort. Yet the crews found waters of the Barents and Kara Sea mostly ice-free, while the passage between Vilkitskogo and the Bering Strait had only 30-centimetre thick “young ice,” Gazprom said in a statement.
The pioneering voyage advances Russia’s plan to turn the Northeast Passage into a key shipping route and to modernize its Arctic infrastructure so Moscow can stake out a claim over the energy-rich region.
“The trip has confirmed the technical and commercial viability of NSR for the global LNG business,” said Gazprom. “The successful journey of the Ob River allows us to count on the full-blown usage of the Northern Sea Route to deliver Russian liquefied gas both to the AsiaPacific region and the European market.”
As climate change leads to a shrinking ice cap in the Arctic, opening of the Northern Sea Route means a “shorter delivery time, fuel economy” and fewer piracy risks” among other advantages, the company said.
Canada has similar dreams for the Northwest Passage, which has seen year-over-year increases in the number of large ships passing through. In 2011, 22 transits took place, an increase over the 18 in 2010. The historic average has been one or two a season.
Russia has focused its attention on Arctic exploration and is seeking to explore several vast fields in its Far North, notably on the Yamal Peninsula, where one project entails building a gas liquefaction plant.
Russian environmental groups though have cautioned against thoughtless exploration of vulnerable northern territories. No studies have yet been undertaken on how to clean up oil spills in temperatures of minus 40 degrees, said Alexei Knizhnikov, a Moscow-based oil and gas expert at the World Wildlife Fund.