What is the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and can it be an alternative to the Suez Canal when it comes to potential trade routes?

How viable is the Northern Sea Route (NSR) as an alternative to the Suez Canal? 

Amid the still-ongoing Red Sea crisis, shipping lines have kept a lookout for other potential trade routes. It is a situation that is throwing fresh focus on the Arctic Northern Sea Route (NSR), which offers a pathway from Shanghai to Hamburg taking only half the time of a journey through the Suez Canal. 

One of the shortest current sea routes between Europe and Asia, the NSR – also sometimes referred to as the “Polar Silk Road” – takes vessels through Arctic waters, passing the Russian, Scandinavian, Greenland, and Canadian coasts. 

So, this is a trade route that would seem to offer many attractions. However, there are also good reasons why European carriers, in particular, are still often reluctant to use it. 

A quick history of the Northern Sea Route 

The NSR is some 3,500 miles (5,600 kilometres) long, and lies entirely in Arctic waters and within Russia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). 

This corridor has not only come to shipping lines’ attention due to the disruption in the Red Sea; it has seen used for commercial purposes since 2010, with the numbers of ships passing through it having significantly increased since then. 

While, in 2010, the route saw the transportation of 2.1 million tons of goods, this had heightened to 33.1 million tons a decade later, and reached 36.2 million tons in 2023. 

Furthermore, the circumstances around the NSR seem to make it a promising sea route for the years ahead; scientists have said that climate change and melting ice sheets will soon enable the all-year-round use of the passage. 

With the use of this route allowing for greatly decreased transport time between the two continents and lower transport costs, it may be a particularly relevant option in the longer term for European businesses looking to supply goods to African countries through European ports. 

However, there are still good reasons for doubts surrounding the “Polar Silk Road” 

So, why are some container lines from Europe hesitant to more deeply explore the potential use of the NSR? One reason is the inherent challenges involved in Arctic navigation, with vessels travelling through the region requiring ice-strengthened hulls, even if they draw upon icebreaker assistance. 

Moreover, some European carriers may be deterred by the political sensitivity around this route, which depends on Russian search-and-rescue (SAR) capability for vessel transits. The Russian Government is expected to plough $7.7 billion of investment into the NSR. 

The SAR capabilities that do exist for this passage are located far away, which – despite some development and cooperation along the channel – means that ships and crews getting into trouble will largely have to fend for themselves. 

So, such factors as the hostile Arctic weather, ice, a lack of necessary chart information, and insubstantial infrastructure, presently count against the NSR as a potential “mainstream” alternative to Red Sea transit. 

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