No cooling off period

Cooling temperatures are failing to chill Arctic shipping prospects, as John Flaherty and Tom Gorrard-Smith, of Clyde & Co LLP, explain

In spite of a 60% increase in the amount of ice covering the Arctic Ocean this summer compared to last year, the equivalent of almost a million square miles, 2013 has seen a continued increase in the number of vessels sailing the Northern Sea Route (NSR). Despite the increase in the Arctic’s ice-sheet, the Northern Sea Route Administration (NSRA), the Russian governmental body which operates the waterway, reported in mid-September that 508 permits had been already issued to vessels to sail all or part of the NSR.