Historic Ship Encounters No Ice along the Northern Sea Route

The 99-year-old German-build barqe ship STS Sedov has not encountered any ice at all on its current voyage between Vladivostok and Kaliningrad along the Northern Sea Route (NSR), the Siberian Times reports.

142 years ago, the Vega Expedition was the first to navigate the NSR, also known as the Northeast Passage. On an expedition under the leadership of Swedish-Finnish explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, the Vega got stuck in pack ice some 1,5 km off the Chukchi Peninsula coast and remained so for 11 months.

The STS Sedov has not encountered even remnants of ice fields on its voyage through the Bering Sea,the Chukchi Sea and the East Siberian Sea. It has currently sailed more than 3,600 miles from Vladivostok and aims to arrive in its home port Kaliningrad by mid-November.

An icebreaker is sailing with the vessel, but its services have not been required so far.