55other facilities along a 3,000- nautical-mile-long
shipping lane that stretches from Murmansk, near
the Finnish border, to the Bering Strait. The North-
ern Sea Route offers the shortest passage between
Europe and Asia, shaving nearly two weeks off a
journey around India, while saving fuel, limiting
vessel wear and tear, and reducing emissions. The
investments are already paying dividends. In 2010,
international cargo shippers made only one full
Northern Sea Route transit. In 2021, there were 71,
according to Norway’s Nord University Centre for
High North Logistics.
Russia is building up its existing 40-strong
icebreaking fleet by commissioning at least half a
dozen nuclear-powered heavy icebreakers at a cost
of $400 million each. When the first of the newest
batch—the world’s biggest and most powerful, ac-
cording to Russian officials—launched its maiden
voyage in 2020, Russia hailed it as the start of a
new era of Arctic dominance. In 2021, commer-
cial tankers, equipped with special ice-hardened
hulls, started transporting natural gas between
Russia’s Arctic- coast oil installations and Chinese
ports in the middle of winter—a strategic advance
that results in a timely lifeline for Moscow if Eu-
ropean nations follow through on threats to cut
off purchases of Russian gas because of the con-
flict in Ukraine. “The creation of a modern nu-
clear icebreaker fleet capable of ensuring regular
year-round and safe navigation through the entire
Northern Sea Route is a strategic task for our coun-
try,” said Vyacheslav Ruksha, head of Rosatom’s
Northern Sea Route Directorate, in a statement.
When one of the world’s largest container ships
became wedged in the Suez Canal in March 2021,
Russia pounced on the resulting weeklong global
shipping stranglehold as a marketing opportu-
nity. “The Suez precedent has shown how fragile
any route between Europe and Asia is,” Vladimir
Panov, a Rosatom representative, told the Inter-
fax news agency. The Northern Sea Route, he
boasted, “makes global trade more sustainable.”
Given current warming trends, Rosatom expects
that the route will be fully competitive with the
Suez Canal by 2035.
Other nations, especially those with land in
or near the Arctic Circle, are eyeing the Russian
buildup with concern. It’s one thing to dredge a
canal through your own country and charge tran-
sit fees. It’s another thing entirely to establish a
commercial trading route in international waters.
Admiral Karl L. Schultz, commandant of the U.S.△
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