Arctic Ship Traffic Hits Record High in 2025 as Resource Projects Drive Growth
Ship traffic in the Arctic reached a new milestone in 2025, with 1,812 unique vessels operating inside the Polar Code area, according to new data released by
Malte Humpert is an investigative journalist for gCaptain and High North News, and Senior Fellow at The Arctic Institute, which he founded in 2011. Based in Tahoe City, California, his research focuses on Arctic geopolitics, Northern Sea Route shipping, and China's interests in the polar region. He was the first journalist to report on Maersk's historic 2018 container ship voyage through the Arctic. His analysis has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and The Economist. Malte holds a Master's degree in European Studies from Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
Ship traffic in the Arctic reached a new milestone in 2025, with 1,812 unique vessels operating inside the Polar Code area, according to new data released by
Russia has dispatched two powerful icebreakers, including a nuclear-powered vessel, from Arctic waters to the Baltic Sea to help keep shipping lanes open as
Operations at the floating LNG import facility Mukran off the Baltic coast of Germany resumed this week after icebreaking efforts by the multipurpose vessel
New data compiled by the Danish Maritime Authority reveals that EU-sanctioned tankers linked to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” made 292 voyages
Cargo volumes along Russia’s Northern Sea Route fell in 2025, underscoring how Western sanctions are increasingly curtailing Moscow’s long-held ambitions
Four MOL LNG carriers built for modern ice-strengthened operations remain idle more than six months after the European Union lifted sanctions following
Russia’s newest liquefied natural gas carrier, the Arc7 ice?class vessel Alexey Kosygin, made its inaugural delivery to the Saam floating storage and
European buyers are aggressively importing liquefied natural gas from Russia’s Arctic Yamal LNG project as the continent prepares for a full EU ban on
The US Coast Guard has confirmed plans to spend $323 million expanding and modernizing its Seattle icebreaker base, underscoring the service’s push to
The Arc7 LNG carrier Alexey Kosygin has arrived at the Utrenniy terminal to presumably load its inaugural cargo from the Arctic LNG 2 project, marking the
French naval forces intercepted and diverted the Russian-linked oil tanker Grinch on Thursday in the western Mediterranean between the southern coast of Spain
Russia’s first domestically assembled Arc7 ice-class LNG carrier has completed more than half of its Arctic transit and ice-trial program, escorted by a
The sanctioned shadow fleet tanker Hyperion has entered the Bay of Biscay and is now heading northeast toward the English Channel. The vessel is one of just a
The EU received 207 LNG cargoes from Yamal LNG in 2025, down 10 from 217 shipments in 2024, new data show. The figures highlight how little trade flows have
In a first for Germany and a potential turning point in the battle over so-called “shadow fleet” tankers, German authorities refused the Russian-linked oil
The U.S. Coast Guard has released its first formal update on Force Design 2028, a sweeping reform effort aimed at reshaping the service into a more agile and
Russia’s Arctic shadow fleet logistics chain shows momentum with a rare, simultaneous ship-to-ship (STS) loading and unloading operation at the Saam floating
U.S. authorities boarded and seized the oil tanker Olina in Caribbean waters on Friday, marking the fifth such interception in recent weeks as Washington
The oil tanker formerly known as Bella 1, now sailing as the Marinera under a Russian flag, has pushed into the North Atlantic and above 60° N, a latitude
The newly delivered Arc7 ice-class liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Alexey Kosygin has departed the Russian Far East on its maiden voyage and is heading
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