China Dominates Arctic Shipping Route Amidst Sanctions

As the massive ‘Christophe de Margerie tanker’ advanced along the ‘Northern Sea Route (NSR)’ towards the end of May, the sea was still covered in thick ice. This was the ship's first voyage of the season. The ship had recently stopped at a port connected to the ‘Arctic LNG-2’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Russia's Arctic region, which is under US sanctions. Subsequently, for most of the journey, the tanker, with the help of an icebreaker, traversed thousands of miles of water in the Arctic region and the Bering Sea.

After completing a journey of about two weeks, the ship reached the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East, a former Soviet military settlement. There, the ship entered a secluded bay.