In Unprecedented Move, Moscow Sends Convoy of Oil Tankers North of Severnaya Zemlya on Its Way to China

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 10 – In what Scandinavian experts say is an “extremely risky” move, Russian tankers loaded with as much as one million tons of oil destined for China have travelled north of Severnaya Zemlya, much father north than the normal Northern Sea Route path and a larger on-time convoy to China than anyone can remember.

            Last week, the convoy, which involved some 15 vessels, sailed north of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago to 81.5 degrees north latitude. In the past, ships moving through that are use the more southern Vikitsky Strait (thebarentsobserver.com/news/in-unprecedented-arctic-operation-russia-sends-convoy-of-oil-tankers-to-815n/455488).

            According to Norvald Kjerstad, a retired Norwegian specialist on the Arctic, there has never been such a large convoy travelling so far north or one whose ships are not specially reenforced for travel in icy wagers.  Indeed, he says this passage is “the northernmost route ordinary oil tankers have ever taken.”

            "Although the waters north of Severnaya Zemlya are now ice-free, there is still a relatively large amount of ice to navigate through in the East Siberian Sea and the De Long Strait (inside Wrangel Island),” he says; and this large convoy is especially at risk for two reasons.

On the one hand, its ships are not the ice class vessels that one sometimes sees the Russians use in the Arctic; and on the other, and potentially more serious, Russian icebreakers are not nearby as they would be if the convoy was following the normal route closer to land. That makes the potential for disaster far higher in this high-risk move.