NSR vs Suez: the Arctic is not a tradelane, it’s a corridor with a hefty premium
Two sets of numbers have landed in the same week. On 19 October, data from Norway’s Centre for High North Logistics (CHNL) showed 104 ships had crossed Russia’s Northern Sea Route (NSR) by 30…
On 19 October, data from Norway’s Centre for High North Logistics (CHNL) showed 104 ships had crossed Russia’s Northern Sea Route (NSR) by 30 September, already more than in all of 2025.
Four days earlier, Lloyd’s List Intelligence reported that containerships moved 2.19m teu through the Suez Canal last month, the most since the Houthi campaign began, and Linerlytica expects carriers to be fully back to Suez by the first quarter of 2027.
Most coverage reads the first as proof that the Arctic is finally opening, but read together, they say something else: the part of the NSR Moscow planned and paid for has missed its targets by a wide margin, while the part it barely planned for has beaten them, because other people’s chokepoints closed.
Next summer will be the first test of what that growth is worth once they reopen.
This story was originally published by The Loadstar. Read the full story at The Loadstar →
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