Study of changes of vessel’s speed in ice conditions on the Northern Sea Route

Abstract

Based on archive information of automatic identification system (AIS), studies of changes in the commercial speed of large-capacity ice-class vessels Arc7 along the route in the Kara Sea on the Northern Sea Route are carried out. To plan maritime traffic in the Arctic seas, it is necessary to have objective data on the influence of various factors on speed and time of transition. To ensure the safety of Arctic shipping, it is necessary to have objective data on the effect of ice on speed and maneuverability of vessels. It was proposed to use a geographic information system (GIS), the layers of which include data on the speeds and routes of vessels of various capacities and data on monitoring ice conditions. Detailed attention was paid to the route in the Kara Sea, as it the main entrance to the Northern Sea Route from the west, the movement of vessels was studied during the winter navigation period under the most severe ice conditions (March) and during the summer navigation period for clean water (September). It was found that in the dense stream of ships in summer navigation, the speed of ships varies slightly and depends on the density and intensity of traffic, and in winter navigation, the speed of ships has dramatic changes as ships go along the route with a large lateral deviation from the route. Research is performed at the Arctic Faculty of Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping. In future, all obtained relationships can be used for modeling the maritime traffic on the Northern Sea Route with an increase in the number of large-capacity vessels with Arc7 ice-class.