On 19 of April, the third serial nuclear icebreaker of Atomflot Yakutia successfully completed its escort mission for the Grigory Shelekhov motorship. This was the icebreaker’s maiden operational voyage since its commissioning. The escort began at the edge of the ice at Cape Zhelaniya on 8 of April. The icebreaker completed its mission in Sever Bay of the Yenisei Gulf (the Yakutia covered a total distance of 367 nautical miles).
“I would like to congratulate the crew of the nuclear icebreaker Yakutia on the successful completion of its first escort mission,” said Yakov Antonov, Acting Director General of Atomflot. “During the voyage, the nuclear icebreaker showed excellent performance in both the Kara Sea and the Yenisei Bay, where the ice thickness reached up to one meter.”
Reference
The Northern Sea Route is the shortest shipping route connecting Western Eurasia with the Asia-Pacific region. The NSR administratively begins at the junction of the Barents and Kara Seas (Kara Gate Strait) and ends at the Bering Strait (Cape Dezhnev), spanning a distance of approximately 5,600 kilometers. The route traverses the seas of the Arctic Ocean, including the Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi Seas. The NSR provides services to the ports of the Arctic and of major rivers of Siberia. Currently, there are six key seaports along the NSR in the Russian Arctic: Sabetta, Dikson, Dudinka, Khatanga, Tiksi, and Pevek.
