The Arctic Ocean is the world's smallest ocean. Until fairly
recently, it was icebound for most of the year and shipping
activities were restricted. The ice is now retreating significantly
and passages through the Arctic Ocean are open for enough of the
year to generate the interest of the international shipping
community.
Commercial activity is not a stranger to the Arctic. Whaling has
been the most sustained activity, and since the 17th century at
least 39,000 ships have gone whaling in the Arctic. Currently,
ships in the Arctic are engaged in many activities, including
community re-supply, fishing, tourism, seismic, offshore supply
vessel operation and an increasing amount of commercial transit
traffic, particularly through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) which
was opened to foreign shipping in 1991. In 2012, 46 ships transited
the NSR between Europe and Asia across the Russian Arctic. This was
a ten-fold increase in traffic from two years prior. A million
tonnes of
