Northwest Passage

[SailOar]

The Arctic Shipping Route No One’s Talking About | The Maritime Executive

By mid-century, a Transpolar Passage will open across the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole. Few countries are preparing for this reality except China....

As climate change accelerates and the Arctic Ocean reluctantly exchanges its year-round ice cap for merely seasonal cover, a transpolar passage is likely to open up by mid-century, if not sooner. If Arctic sea ice disappears even for just one summer, as the comprehensive 2009 Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment notes (p. 34), this would spell “the disappearance of multi-year sea ice in the central Arctic Ocean. Such an occurrence would have significant implications for design, construction and operational standards of all future Arctic marine activities.” In the absence of thick multi-year ice, which can be up to five meters deep, any water that refreezes would take the form of much thinner, more navigable seasonable ice.

In other words, forget needing nuclear icebreakers. Within the next few decades, in summer, it may be possible (even if insurance companies and the Polar Code still mandate polar-class, ice-resistant ships) to sail in a regular vessel across the top of the Earth....

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by SailOar

The Arctic Shipping Route No One’s Talking About | The Maritime Executive

good article I really like the liberal use of the words " if,might, may, and could "

Really says we hope we are right but we know its really not going to happen .

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by newhaul

good article I really like the liberal use of the words " if,might, may, and could "

Really says we hope we are right but we know its really not going to happen .

Last summer there was open water at the North Pole. If, might, may and could refers to the remote chance something substancial is done to stop the climate change..

[SailOar]

Sailing to high latitudes: Everything you need to know before you set sail | Yachting World

What equipment, modifications and preparations are needed for sailing to high latitudes? Ice pilot Magnus Day explains.

[conachair]

Someone heading that way..
Blog – The Figure 8 Voyage

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by TeddyDiver

Last summer there was open water at the North Pole. If, might, may and could refers to the remote chance something substancial is done to stop the climate change..

and yet icebreakers were needed all year on the eastern sea route and the nwp was ( while yes 2 pleasure craft made the trip) listed as dangerous without icebreaker as well . Lots different than 2017 was

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by newhaul

and yet icebreakers were needed all year on the eastern sea route and the nwp was ( while yes 2 pleasure craft made the trip) listed as dangerous without icebreaker as well . Lots different than 2017 was

Where the ice drifts depends of the winds and ocean streams. Even more when there's less ice and not packed full as it once was.

Not enough wind there?

[Exile]

Originally Posted by conachair

Someone heading that way..
Blog – The Figure 8 Voyage

Yes indeed! I've been following along, and what an amazing story. He's currently in St. Johns, Newfoundland, and that's after starting out in San Francisco, doing a lap of Antarctica, and sailing around Cape Horn . . . twice! If nothing else, his timing for setting up an attempt on the NW Passage (solo) after such a long & arduous passage is impressive. I hope he makes it, regardless of whether some will start a thread attributing it to MMGW or not!

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by newhaul

and yet icebreakers were needed all year on the eastern sea route

Citation please

Meanwhile

Russia’s Northern Sea Route saw another record-setting year in 2018 as 18 million tons of cargo traveled along the country’s Arctic coastline. This compares to just 3.9 million tons five years earlier in 2013 and also represents an 80 percent increase over 2017.

Just five years ago the route saw almost no traffic during the months from December to May. Now, around 20 vessels on average are now active each day during the winter season. Interestingly, despite the increase in cargo volume compared to 2017, the number of vessels operating on the route at any given time decreased by about 20 percent, especially during the summer months. This indicates that larger vessels, primarily used for the transport of hydrocarbon resources, now frequent the route compared to numerous smaller cargo vessels used for the supply of construction materials during the previous years.

https://www.arctictoday.com/russias-...olume-in-2018/

[Exile]

Originally Posted by jackdale

Citation please

Meanwhile

Quote:
Russia’s Northern Sea Route saw another record-setting year in 2018 as 18 million tons of cargo traveled along the country’s Arctic coastline. This compares to just 3.9 million tons five years earlier in 2013 and also represents an 80 percent increase over 2017.

Just five years ago the route saw almost no traffic during the months from December to May. Now, around 20 vessels on average are now active each day during the winter season. Interestingly, despite the increase in cargo volume compared to 2017, the number of vessels operating on the route at any given time decreased by about 20 percent, especially during the summer months. This indicates that larger vessels, primarily used for the transport of hydrocarbon resources, now frequent the route compared to numerous smaller cargo vessels used for the supply of construction materials during the previous years.

https://www.arctictoday.com/russias-...olume-in-2018/

Are the recent increases in shipping more attributable to an increased presence of Russian icebreakers or a significant reduction in the ice?

On another note, have you attempted to find a crew or captain berth on one of the yachts which attempt it each year? With your delivery experience (and general interest) I thought it might be appealing. I just read that this was what the guy from Figure 8 Voyage did to help prepare for his upcoming solo attempt.

"Randall crewed the famous Northwest Passage in 2014, a grueling 65 days over an ice-strewn 5,000-mile course aboard one of only seven boats to complete the Arctic run that year."

Hey SailOar, are voyages like this getting you at all interested in boats?

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Exile

Are the recent increases in shipping more attributable to an increased presence of Russian icebreakers or a significant reduction in the ice?
:

and lets not forget the new fleet of large LNG tankers that double as icebreakers .
https://gcaptain.com/three-new-arc7-...-lng-terminal/

[SailOar]

Originally Posted by Exile

....Hey SailOar, are voyages like this getting you at all interested in boats?

I would LOVE to sail the coasts of Labrador, Greenland, and the Canadian Archipelago.

I've traveled by auto and ferry in the fjord regions of New Zealand and Chile. There are tidewater glaciers in Chile, though most not accessible by car -- some by tour boat. Fantastically beautiful countries.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by newhaul

and lets not forget the new fleet of large LNG tankers that double as icebreakers .
https://gcaptain.com/three-new-arc7-...-lng-terminal/

The concept, let alone reality, of a combo icebreaker/LNG carrier doesn't seem quite right to me. But I'm sure they're suitably built for the task. At least I hope they are.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by Exile

The concept, let alone reality, of a combo icebreaker/LNG carrier doesn't seem quite right to me. But I'm sure they're suitably built for the task. At least I hope they are.

Like the ferries sailing Baltic all year round. Never mind they break the ice but when they take over real icebreakers in 40cm of ice

[Exile]

Originally Posted by SailOar

I would LOVE to sail the coasts of Labrador, Greenland, and the Canadian Archipelago.

I've traveled by auto and ferry in the fjord regions of New Zealand and Chile. There are tidewater glaciers in Chile, though most not accessible by car -- some by tour boat. Fantastically beautiful countries.

Agreed. I've bicycle-toured through NZ twice, and was told at the time there were fjords that were so inaccessible by land that no human had ever set foot on them. But then it's an entirely different type of experience traveling to such places via yacht. Unfortunately I can only imagine it at this point, although one can always go "sailing" vicariously through others:*

https://www.youtube.com/user/drakeParagon (Greenland)


*Sailing, (sa ling),1.n. the fine art of getting wet and becoming ill while slowly going nowhere at great expence. Henry Beard