Moscow sent two icebreakers to free ships, including two oil tankers and a cargo ship, from the frozen waters near the Arctic.

An early and sudden freeze left at least 18 cargo ships stranded in Arctic waters off Russia. Ice 30cm thick has formed over most of the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea. For years, warm weather due to climate change has allowed ships to pass through the area through most of November without incident.

This freezing has caused many transports to “miss their appointment” with their destination when they can wait for days for the icebreaker to arrive. However, transportation companies blamed inaccurate forecasts for their strandedness.

Viktor Gil, captain of the Mikhail Somov, one of the ships that ran aground along the route, described the situation as “catastrophic”. However, at least the crew will still have enough food until the icebreaker approaches them, expected in the next week.

Russia’s nuclear icebreaker fleet has been sent to rescue the stranded ships. However, Moscow is unlikely to be spared the influence. The Kremlin used to invest a lot of money in the northern sea route of the country. Climate change has opened up a sea route to shorten the distance from Europe to Asia.

The thousands of miles long sea route along Russia’s Arctic coast could cut the journey from Hamburg, Germany to Tokyo by almost 14 days compared with going through the Suez Canal, Egypt.

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