Monitoring of vessel traffic along the Northern Sea Route

For the map to display correctly, we recommend opening the page on a computer.

Each point on the map represents a vessel at a specific moment in time. Click on any point to see the vessel’s name, type, flag state, and how many hours it spent in that location.

The map covers a three-year period — from 2023 to 2025 — and allows users to compare how traffic along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) has changed over time. The flag filter shows which countries’ vessels appeared on the route. For a closer look at any vessel, users can follow a direct link to Global Fishing Watch to view its full track.

Filters:

• Aging Tankers
  
  We identified oil tankers more than 15 years old. Vessels of this age are subject to greater wear and tear, experience more frequent mechanical failures, and are less suited to navigating the severe ice conditions of the NSR. At the same time, responding to an oil spill in these waters would be extremely difficult: the remoteness of the route, lack of infrastructure, and harsh climate make any accident potentially catastrophic.

• Sanctioned Vessels
  
  The presence of sanctioned vessels on the NSR suggests that the route is increasingly being used in opaque cargo transportation schemes, primarily involving oil shipments.

• Protected areas
  
  The map also shows the boundaries of protected areas along the NSR. Users can examine when and which vessels entered these zones despite their special conservation status and restrictions on navigation. We compiled a dataset of such crossings, available for download via the link in the description when opening the map for the first time.

The data are aggregated from Global Fishing Watch. Sanctions lists are sourced from OpenSanctions, while ice and geographic data come from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

Cover photo by Rosatom