Ryska tankers utan isklass i Nordostpassagen

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) (Russian: Се́верный морско́й путь, romanized: Severnyy morskoy put, shortened to Севморпуть, Sevmorput) is a shipping route about 5,600 kilometres (3,500 mi) long, defined by Russian legislation as running from the entrances to the Novaya Zemlya straits in the west, along the Russian Arctic coast above Siberia through the Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, and Chukchi Sea, to Cape Zhelaniya on the Bering Strait, at parallel 66 ° N and meridian of 168 ° 58′37 ″ W.The entire route lies in Arctic waters and within Russia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and is included in what has been called the Northeast Passage, analogous to Canada's Northwest Passage. The Northern Sea Route itself does not include the Barents Sea, and it therefore does not reach the Atlantic.The Northern Sea Route currently serves the Arctic ports and major rivers of Siberia by importing fuel, equipment, food and exporting timber and minerals. Some parts of the route are only free of ice for two months per year, but melting Arctic ice caps are likely to increase traffic and the commercial viability of the Northern Sea Route. One study, for instance, projects "remarkable shifts in trade flows between Asia and Europe, diversion of trade within Europe, heavy shipping traffic in the Arctic and a substantial drop in Suez traffic. Projected shifts in trade also imply substantial pressure on an already threatened Arctic ecosystem."Proponents of using the sea route for global trade claim that because it is considerably shorter than the existing sea routes from Asia to Europe, usage emits less CO2, by cutting time at sea, and fuel consumption, by more than half. The distance from Murmansk (Russia) to Yokohama (Japan) through the Suez Canal is 12,840 nautical miles, but only 5,770 nautical miles through the Northern Sea Route. For the corporate players in bulk shipping of relatively low-value raw materials, cost savings for fuel are a crucial driver to explore the Northern Sea Route for commercial transits, more than delivery time, or environmental concerns. There are also new opportunities for tourism. It was reported in 2023 that Rosmorport, a state-owned agency of the Russian Ministry of Transport, has plans to run cruises for tourists in icebreakers along the entire Northern Sea Route between Murmansk and Vladivostok.

En isklass är ett mått på hur bra ett fartyg klarar att gå i is. Ett isklassat fartyg har tillräckligt starkt skrov och, beroende på isklass, lämplig skrovform, tillräckligt stark motor och tekniska lösningar som lämpar sig för ändamålet. Olika klassningssällskap har olika system för isklasser, men många av dessa erkänns att motsvara isklasserna i andra system.