Russia’s implementation of the Polar Code on the Northern Sea Route

ABSTRACT

Russia has taken numerous steps to harmonise its national legislation with the provisions of the Polar Code. Since its entry into force, there have been a small number of registered violations of the Polar Code on the Northern Sea Route (NSR). To a large extent, this could be explained by the fact that the bulk of navigation on the NSR falls out of the scope of the Polar Code. Another reason is that Russia continues to implement its national navigation rules, which in some cases impose stricter requirements than those of the Polar Code. However, potential risks related to the navigation of vessels in violation of the Polar Code in Arctic waters should not be underestimated. This article also proposes the establishment of an Arctic Port State Control mechanism to address potential challenges associated with the implementation of the Code in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Arctic
• Russia
• Polar Code
• maritime safety
• port state control
• Northern Sea Route
• law of the sea

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

^1. “The Ocean and Cryosphere.”

^2. “The Increase in Arctic Shipping.”

^3. “Volumes of cargo transportation on the Northern Sea Route.”

^4. Ibid.

^5. Humpert, “Maersk to Return to Arctic.”

^6. IMO Resolution MSC.385(94).

^7. IMO Resolution MSC.386(94).

^8. IMO Resolution MEPC.265(68).

^9. IMO Resolution MSC.416(97).

^10. International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters.

^11. “IMO prinjala Poljarnyj kodeks.”

^12. See Zagorski, “Implementation of the Polar Code”; Vylegzhanin, Ivanov, Dudikina, “Poljarnyj kodeks.”

^13. Zagorski, “Implementation of the Polar Code,” 224.

^14. Bognar–Lahr, “In the Same Boat?,” 8–10.

^15. Ibid., 7.

^16. “Rossija vystupaet za.”

^17. Decree №5 of the Ministry of Transport.

^18. It should be noted that on 18 September 2020, the Russian Government approved an updated version of the Rules of Navigation on the Water Area of the Northern Sea Route. According to the new text, permissions to enter the NSR are granted by the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport of Russia or a subordinate organisation. The decisions concerning the permissions should be approved by a special Maritime Operations Headquarters to be established by Rosatom (Reg. 2 and 3; see also the Federal Law of the Russian Federation №525-FZ). It is still not clear what agency will be responsible for issuing permissions. However, judging from the latest available data of the Administration of the NSR, it is continuing to grant permissions after the adoption of the new version of the Rules. For the sake of simplicity, this paper will further refer to the NSR Administration as the principal agency responsible for granting permissions.

^19. Rules of Navigation, Reg. 5 (‘ж’).

^20. Yang, “Implementation of Port State Control,” 6.

^21. “Members of the International Association of Classification Societies.”

^22. “RS upolnomochen osvidetel’stvovat.”

^23. “RS issues the first Polar Ship Certificate.”

^24. “Authorizations of RS by Flag Administrations.”

^25. “Guidelines on the Application.”

^26. Banshhikova, “Mezhdunarodnyj kodeks,” 44; Mednikov, “Polar Code: Critical Assessment,” 18.

^27. Annexe to HELCOM Recommendation.

^28. Additional Guidance for Chapter 3 of the PC: ‘The responsibility for generating the equivalency request and supporting information required should rest with the owner/operator. Review/approval of any equivalency request should be undertaken by the flag State Administration, or by a recognised organisation acting on its behalf under the provisions of the Code for Recognised Organizations (RO Code)’.

^29. Chapter V (Safety of navigation), however, applies to ships on all voyages.

^30. Statistical information in this Section is based on the data of the Northern Sea Route Information Office (Available at https://arctic-lio.com) and the Administration of the Northern Sea Route (Available at http://nsra.ru/en/home.html).

^31. The additional number of international voyages could be derived from the category of destination traffic from the NSR ports, which amounted to 657 voyages (34% of all traffic)in 2017. However, the data available do not differentiate between domestic and international voyages from the NSR ports, therefore, this number remains unclear. See “Detailed Analysis of Ship Traffic.”

^32. “The Ocean and Cryosphere,” Chapter 3, section 3.2.4.3.

^33. “National Goals and Strategic Targets.”

^34. Burmistrova and Fadeeva, “Rosatom Suggested Lowering.”

^35. Sevastyanov and Kravchuk, “Russia’s Policy to Develop Trans-Arctic Shipping.”

^36. Grant, “Implementation of the Polar Code,” 196.

^37. See Hamann and Peschmann, “Goal–Based Standards.”

^38. Jensen, “International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters,” 70.

^39. Mednikov, “Poljarnyj Kodeks,” 14.

^40. Ibid.

^41. “Authorizations of RS by flag administrations.”

^42. See Sergunin, Gjørv, “The Politics of the Russian Arctic,” 10; Vylegzhanin, Ivanov, and Dudikina, “Poljarnyj kodeks,” 55; Gavrilov, Dremliuga, and Nurimbetov, “Article 234,” 4.

^43. Rules of Navigation, Annexe II.

^44. Ibid.

^45. Ibid.

^46. Rules of Navigation, Reg. 5.

^47. Rules of Navigation, Reg. 18–24.

^48. Rules of Navigation, Reg. 26.

^49. Chircop and Czarski, “Polar Code,” 11.

^50. Diplomatic note from the Government of the United States.

^51. Zagorski, “Implementation of the Polar Code,” 227.

^52. Code of Administrative Offences, Article 23.10.

^53. Solski, “Russia,” 213.

^54. IMO Resolution A.682(17).

^55. “General Rules of Navigation.”

^56. “Administration of the Ports of the Western Arctic.”

^57. ”Administration of the Sea Ports of Primorski Krai and the Eastern Arctic.”

^58. Henriksen, “Norway, Denmark,” 275–76.

^59. For more details see Todorov, “Coping with Deficiencies in the Polar Code.”

^60. Since the current weather forecasting for the NSR is far from perfect and does not always keep up with the rapidly changing Arctic conditions (see Zagorski, “Implementation of the Polar Code,” 225; Henriksen, “Norway, Denmark,” 294), Arctic states could consider cooperating on this issue as well.