Ship traf­fic through the Nor­t­hern Sea Rou­te, also known as Nor­the­ast Pas­sa­ge, has increased ten­fold sin­ce 2010. Two years ago, the pas­sa­ge was used by only 4 ves­sels, com­pared to 46 in 2012. This season’s last 2 ships, both Fin­nish ice­brea­k­ers, are still on their way.

Most ves­sels that used the Nor­t­hern Sea Rou­te in 2012 were car­go ships trans­port­ing oil, gas and fuels, fol­lo­wed by ore and coal. The rou­te was used for the first time to trans­port LNG (liqui­fied gas) in 2012, when a Nor­we­gi­an ves­sel sai­led from Ham­mer­fest to Japan.

The Nor­the­ast Pas­sa­ge was com­ple­ted for the first time in 1878/79 by the Swe­dish explo­rer Adolf Erik Nor­denskjöld. It is about 20 days shorter than the com­mon rou­te through the Suez Canal.

Source: Barents­ob­ser­ver