A study of ship voyage planning in the northern sea route

Abstract

As climate change progresses, the amount of arctic sea ice continues to decline, and open water areas expand rapidly during the summer season in the Northern Sea Route (NSR). Thus, opening the NSR could offer great possibilities for the shipping industry and shipbuilders. The NSR is navigated by merchant vessels equipped with specially strengthened hulls, which sail between Europe and Asia during the summer and autumn periods. To ensure ship safety on the NSR, a risk assessment should be conducted before the initial stages of voyage planning. The Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) has been developing a voyage planning system called the KRISO Arctic Safe Routing System (KARS). The main purpose of KARS is to ensure safe navigation, which includes optimal route planning and increasing ship energy efficiency in the NSR. In this study, the main functions of KARS were introduced and validation tests were conducted onboard the Korean icebreaker, ARAON in the East Siberian Sea. The full scale ice trial results were summarized and the possibility of applying KARS will be discussed. Copyright ？ 2018 by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers