Last month, the Russian owned container ship Monchegorsk became the first vessel in history to sail the entire Northern Sea Route without icebreaker assistance.  This week the vessel is making history again, completing its round-trip voyage.  Barents Observer tells us:

Monchegorsk arrived at the port of Dudinka on Thuesday after a 41 day long round-trip to China via the Northern Sea Route.

The ice-classed diesel-electric vessel sailed from Murmansk on September 15 via the port of Dudinka by the Yenisei River and further to Shanghai with metal. She became the first ever vessel to sail the entire Northern Sea Route without icebreaker assistance.

Monchegorsk arrived in Shanghai in China on October 17th where she unloaded metal and loaded Chinese consumer goods to bring back to Norilsk.

Tuesday this week, Monchegorsk wrote herself into the history book of Arctic navigation for the second time when the vessel arrived back to the port of Dudinka. The vessel became the first ever vessel to sail a round-trip to Asia via the Northern Sea Route without icebreaker assistance. Keep Reading

[Photo: Aker Arctic]