On 19 May, Russia will takeover the chair of both the Arctic Council and the Arctic Economic Council (AEC) from Iceland.

Well-known shipping face Evgeniy Ambrosov, who last year took up the post of director of marine operations and logistics at Russian gas company Novatek, steps into the hot seat to become the fifth chairman of the AEC.

The council is a business organisation — in contrast to the more political Arctic Council. Members from across the region participate in five working groups including one covering Maritime Transportation, of which Ambrosov is also a member.

Exciting agenda

“The Russian agenda for these two years is extremely exciting,” Ambrosov told TradeWinds, outlining plans to arrange an unprecedented number of meetings in Murmansk, Sabetta, Salekhard, Vladivostok and St Petersburg.

During his upcoming two-year tenure, the incoming chairman said one of his main priorities will be to continue strengthening the links with the Arctic Council and its maritime groups, where he sees many opportunities for closer cooperation.

He also wants to grow the AEC’s relationships with other maritime organisations.

Arctic genes

Ambrosov has multi-generational history with the Arctic. He sailed there with Russia’s former Far Eastern Shipping Co, as did most male members of his family.

He said global warming creates the impression that the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is becoming a year-round passage for anyone to use but this is incorrect.

Arctic shipping is very different from vanilla shipping.

Evgeniy Ambrosov

One of the biggest challenges is to avoid use of the NSR by substandard ships or vessels that are not in line with the requirements of the Polar Code, he explained.

Ice or vanilla?

“Arctic shipping is very different from vanilla shipping,” he said.

He added that it requires the most technologically advanced ships, strong propulsion power — Novatek’s next LNG carriers will have over 50MW — and ice-breaker support.

It also requires special crew training — something the AEC is looking at for the seafarers who will serve on these next-generation vessels.

The AEC is looking at the incident reporting systems, the establishment of traffic control, telecoms infrastructure and its approach to the requirements for the reduction of emissions, Ambrosov said.

He cited the 40% reduction in transit time via the NSR as helping cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Ambrosov says a 50-day round trip between Sabetta and South East Asia through the NSR produces 7,000 tonnes less CO2 compared with taking a route via the Suez Canal.

He said the AEC is open for discussions on the pros and cons of Arctic shipping with those companies who have said they will avoid the NSR. But he added that he has not yet heard any reasonable ecological or economic reasons on this yet.