India and the Northern Sea Route

Why in the News?

India has been witnessing the rising trend of involvement in cargo traffic in Murmansk port with a lion’s share of 35% of eight million tonnes of cargo handled by the port in the last 7 months in 2023.

Significance of Arctic region to India:

1. The Arctic region encompassing Arctic Ocean with the North Pole at its centre, is highly vulnerable to unprecedented changes in the climate. This can impact India’s economic security, water security and sustainability.
2. The region has the largest unexplored prospective area for hydrocarbons remaining on the earth. 
   1. An estimated amount of ~40% of the current global reserves of oil and gas may have its presence in the Arctic region.
   2. Chances for significant reserves of coal, zinc and silver.
   3. Greenland alone possesses about a quarter of world’s rare earth reserves.
3. Murmansk Port is famously called as the capital of the Arctic region and the beginning point of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), situated about 2,000 km northwest of Moscow.

India’s engagement with the Arctic:

1. Svalbard Treaty, 1920:
   • Signed in February 1920 in Paris
   • This has enabled India to undertake several scientific studies and research in the Arctic region such as atmospheric, biological, marine, hydrological and glaciological studies.
2. India established a research station, Himadri, at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard in 2008.
3. In 2016, India became an observer-state of the Arctic Council along with five others including China.
4. Launch of multi-sensor moored observatory in 2014.
5. Launch of northernmost atmospheric laboratory in 2016.
6. Till 2022, 13 expeditions have been successfully conducted to the Arctic region.
7. India’s Arctic policy, 2022 unveiled by Ministry of Earth Sciences.The six pillars of the Policy are:

• Science and Research
• Economic and Human Development Cooperation
• Climate and Environmental Protection
• Transportation and Connectivity
• Governance and International Cooperation
• National Capacity Building

What is The Northern Sea Route (NSR):

1. NSR is the shortest shipping route for freight transportation between Europe and countries of the Asia-Pacific region.
2. It spans across four seas of the Arctic Ocean, namely East Siberian Sea, Kara Sea, Chukchi sea and Laptev Sea.
3. The route runs up to 5,600 km beginning at the boundary between the Barents and the Kara seas (Kara Strait) and ends in the Bering Strait (Provideniya Bay).
4. The use of NSR can save a distance as high as 50% compared to the currently used shipping lanes via Suez or Panama.
5. The 2021 blockage of the Suez Canal which forms part of the widely-used maritime route involving Europe and Asia has caused diversion of interests to the NSR.

How is Russia making the NSR navigable?

1. Russia has employed a nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, the only country in the world to own and use it, to carry out icebreaking assistance to ensure safe navigation along the NSR, as the seas of the Arctic Ocean remain icebound during most of the year.
2. In 1959, the world’s first nuclear icebreaker “Lenin” was put into icebreaking which was decommissioned 30 years later.
3. Today, the fleet comprises 7 nuclear-powered icebreakers, apart from one nuclear container ship and 3 more are expected to be commissioned between 2024 and 2027.

What are the driving factors for India to participate in the NSR development?

1. The growth rate of 73% registered in cargo traffic along the NSR during 2018-2022 and the record supplies of energy resources importing crude oil and coal from Russia to India in recent years.
2. India’s geographical position and its major share of trade association with sea transportation emphasizes the importance of NSR as a transit route.
3. The Chennai-Vladivostok Maritime Corridor (CVMC) project signed between India and Russia, is linked with the international container transit through the NSR.
   1. The 10,500 km-long CVMC which pass through the Sea of Japan, the South China Sea and Malacca Strait, will bring down transport time to 12 days.
   2. This will be almost one-third time taken through the existing St. Petersburg-Mumbai route of 16,000 km.

4. There is a growing possibility of China and Russia gaining collective influence over the NSR, which is a matter-of-concern to India.

Future prospects:

1. The NSR development plan until 2035 was approved by Russia in 2022 and sets the cargo traffic target at 80 million tonnes and 150 million tonnes for 2024 and 2030 respectively [The current cargo traffic is at 34 million tonnes].
2. Recently a Russian delegation held meetings with the Indian business community on the NSR development, which has assured availability of key components for the year-round operation of the route.