Russia allows unsupported oil tankers to sail the icy Northern Sea Route

Russia has authorised unreinforced oil tankers to sail through its icy Northern Sea Route for the first time. Ice can damage tankers, leading to oil spills at sea.

This is reported by the Financial Times.

The NS Bravo tanker is carrying a cargo of approximately 1mn barrels of oil on its route to the port of Rizhao in eastern China.

The Leonid Loza, is carrying the same amount of oil to eastern China, and left the port of Murmansk on September 9, six days after NS Bravo.

A typical voyage from Russia's Primorsk port to China via the Suez Canal takes 45 days. The Northern Sea Route allows for a 10-day faster shipment of raw materials.

Moscow is using this route to redirect its exports to Asia, which have declined due to sanctions. The route is shorter but more dangerous.

"Using non-ice-class tankers makes the already high likelihood of an accident that much worse," said Charlie Kronick at Greenpeace UK.

In July 2023, several ice-class vessels faced sea ice more challenging than their ice classification allowed and had to wait for icebreaker escorts in the East Siberian Sea.

It will be recalled that Russia's military build-up is destroying the Arctic ecosystems of the Barents Sea.