Arctic Navigation: Reflections on the Northern Sea Route

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Chapter 19 Arctic Navigation: Reflections on the Northern Sea Route

Said Mahmoudi*

Introduction

International interest in the Arctic Ocean has increased since the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) entered into force in 1994. The reason is the greater attention now being paid to the consequences of global warming1 and the new possibilities opening up due to climate change. Access to resources, including previously unknown biological ones, and increased use of navigational routes, are just two of such possibilities. One example of this increased attention to the Arctic waters is the meeting of the ministers of transport of Japan, China and South Korea in Yokohama on 25 August 2014. Their purpose was to agree on an arrangement for the safety of ship operations in Arctic waters and to establish an efficient logistic system in that area. This was the fifth recent meeting of these ministers about Arctic navigation. The two main sea routes in the Arctic Ocean today are the Northwest Passage, which runs along the northern coast of North America, and the Northeast Passage, which follows the coasts of Norway, Russia and Alaska. The major part of its Russian section, the Northern Sea Route, is the focus of this paper. A third route, the Central Arctic Ocean Route, which is in international waters, is considered as a potential trans-Arctic transport seaway. The Northern Sea Route is the most attractive option for transport due to its more favorable ice conditions and available infrastructure, including nuclear- powered ice breakers. This may be compared with the Northwest Passage with relatively scant infrastructure2 for shipping and perhaps lack of clear

* Professor of International Law, Stockholm University. 1 According to one recent estimate, 4.57 million square miles of Arctic sea ice melted between March and September 2012. See Arctic Strategy, United States Coast Guard, 2013, p. 5. 2 The Arctic Council’s important report—Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment—from 2009 addresses the problem of insufficiency of shipping infrastructure in general. Mention is made of i.a. lack of timely information for navigation, lack of search and rescue assets, pollution

Figure 19.1 Navigational Routes in the Arctic. Source: Norwegian Polar Institute. political commitment from the Canadians to develop the navigational routes in the Passage. The Northern Sea Route is not one fixed route. Unlike most other sea routes, there is no single, set channel for ships to follow, but a series of chan- nels through icy waters. The Route includes the Vilkitsky and Shokalskiy Straits connecting the Kara and Laptev Seas, the Dimtry Laptev and Sannikov Straits connecting the Laptev and East Siberian Seas, and the Proliv Long Strait, which joins the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas. The passage of

response assets, port reception facilities, and salvage resources for vessels in distress. http:// www.arctic.noaa.gov/detect/documents/AMSA_2009_Report_2nd_print.pd, pp. 154–155.