One of the alternatives being considered to replace the Suez Canal is the Northern Sea Route, a maritime shipping passage whose significance has increased due to ice melting caused by global warming and massive Russian investments. After the Suez Canal incident years ago, there has been an effort to transform it into a shipping passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the Russian Arctic coastline from the Barents Sea, adjacent to Siberia, to the Far East. This route, known as the Northeast Passage, allows navigation through ice-free waters in the Arctic and has been known since the early 20th century.
The traditional maritime route from Europe to Asia (Rotterdam – Tokyo) through the Suez Canal
is 21,100 kilometers long. In contrast, the route through the Northwest Passage is only 15,900
kilometers, and the route through the Northeast Passage is even shorter, approximately 14,100
kilometers. Both the Northwest and Northeast Passages were ice-free simultaneously for the first
time on August 29, 2008, and in subsequent years, the Northeast Passage remained ice-free for
several weeks between August and early October.
The ease and duration of navigation along this route have been increasing.
During an exploratory journey in August 2012, a Chinese icebreaker sailing from the Pacific
Ocean to Iceland encountered much less ice than expected. A route much closer to the North Pole and therefore shorter for the return journey was chosen.
Commercial use of the Northeast Passage resumed in 2009 when the shipping company Beluga,
based in Bremen, Germany, used this route for the first time since the Suez Canal incident with
two commercial ships. According to the shipping company, the ships Beluga Fraternity and
Beluga Foresight, which departed from Vladivostok on August 21, 2009, belonged to the ice
class E3, making them suitable for this northern passage. On their way to Europe, the ships made
a stop in the port of Novy in Siberia, led by Russian captains.
In July 2010, two tankers owned by the Russian shipping company Sovcomflot sailed through
the Northeast Passage for the first time. The ships, Varzuga and Indiga, accompanied by an
icebreaker, traveled from Vladivostok to Pevek in eastern Siberia. In total, ten ships took
advantage of the opportunity to transit the Northeast Passage in 2010.
From 2010 to 2011, the amount of goods transported through the Northeast Passage increased
more than sevenfold to 0.82 million tons, carried by 34 ships. In the following year, 2012, 46
ships with a cargo of 1.26 million tons were reported, and they sailed without the assistance of an icebreaker, significantly reducing costs and additional insurance premiums.
The Northeast Passage was expanded to become a major traffic artery, an official goal of the
Russian government, and a new law was enacted at the end of 2011 to clarify the legal
framework for its future use. Massive investments were made in updating and expanding the
icebreaker fleet, as well as the accompanying infrastructure of the shipping route, including
modern communication and navigation means. This also included the construction of the
liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, which began in 2013.
In the shipping season of 2013, 71 commercial voyages were recorded through the Northeast
Passage, more than seven times the number in 2010.
In the summer of 2014 (from August 15 to September 7), the exploration cruise ship Hanseatic
(Hapag-Lloyd Cruises) became the first non-Russian passenger ship to sail through the Northeast
Passage from Provideniya to Murmansk, from east to west. On this journey, on August 27, 2014,
the ship also reached the northernmost latitude on Earth ever reached by any icebreaker. In 2015, another ship from Bremen, under the command of Captain Jörn Gutschalk, passed through from west to east.
In the summer of 2017, a specially designed liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier named Christophe de Margerie sailed through the Northeast Passage without the assistance of an icebreaker for the first time. In September 2018, Venta Maersk became the first container ship of its size and the third-ever cargo ship to sail through the Northeast Passage across the Arctic Ocean without an icebreaker.
In 2019, according to statistics from the Northern Sea Route Administration, 31.5 million tons
were transported, including 20.5 million tons of LNG, most of which came from the Sabetta
station. The Russian authorities reported the passage of 37 ships carrying a total of 697,200 tons
without stopping at a Russian port (which remains small).
There are extremely large investments from Russia and Arab countries in this route, and in 2021, these investments multiplied after the Japanese ship ran aground in the Suez Canal, causing the disruption of 156 ships and tankers, and partially halting navigation in the Suez Canal.
Since the start of the current conflict with the Palestinians, and with the navigation in the Bab el
Mandeb in the Red Sea in danger, navigation through the Northeast Passage has significantly
increased.
According to Russian government statements, Russia plans to increase shipping along the
Northern Sea Route to 80 million tons by 2024, and there is a significant increase in demand for
cargo transport along this route in the near future.
The problem is that Egypt, which owns the Suez Canal, does not see nor recognise the growing
significance of its competition.
