Studying the factors affecting the navigation duration along the Northern Sea Route

Abstract

Abstract The problems of year-round navigation in the water area of the Northern Sea Route are considered. The study results are obtained at the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping within the framework of the “Hydrographic support of the Northern Sea Route” scientific school in two main interrelated directions. The first direction is devoted to the study of the main natural - climatic and navigational - hydrographic factors affecting the navigation conditions. The second direction is focused on the collection and analysis of statistical information on the ships movement parameters and on the substantiation of the year-round navigation possibility in all waters of the Arctic Seas and Polar waters. The main trends of changes in the fleet structure, the conditions of ships navigation and the development of the shipping routes network in the Arctic seas over the past ten years are noted. Particular attention is paid to the studies results related to the development of the shipping routes network on the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route and the prospects for year-round navigation of ships in the Laptev and East Siberian Seas.