Northern Sea Route vs Suez Canal: distances
The Northern Sea Route runs along Russia’s Arctic coast from Kara Gate to the Bering Strait. On the 7 main container lanes between East Asia and North Europe it is 10–30% shorter than the route through the Suez Canal. The distances below are estimates; how they are made, and what they leave out, is explained further down.
Russian rules as checked on 2026-10-21. Each rule names its source.
Distances via each route
| Route | Via Suez nm, days | Via the NSR nm, days | Shorter by nm, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shanghai–Rotterdam | 10,607 31.6 days | 8,143 24.2 days | 2,464 23% |
| Ningbo-Zhoushan–Rotterdam | 10,489 31.2 days | 8,192 24.4 days | 2,297 22% |
| Shenzhen (Yantian)–Rotterdam | 9,839 29.3 days | 8,827 26.3 days | 1,012 10% |
| Shanghai–Hamburg | 10,857 32.3 days | 8,077 24.0 days | 2,780 26% |
| Shanghai–Antwerp-Bruges | 10,597 31.5 days | 8,186 24.4 days | 2,411 23% |
| Busan–Rotterdam | 10,922 32.5 days | 7,666 22.8 days | 3,256 30% |
| Shenzhen (Yantian)–Felixstowe | 9,763 29.1 days | 8,835 26.3 days | 928 10% |
The saving is largest from Busan: 3,256 nm, 30%. It is smallest from Shenzhen (Yantian): 928 nm, 10%. Days are sailing time at a steady 14 knots: they leave out reduced speed in ice, waiting for an icebreaker, the Suez Canal transit and port time. The route names link to each pair’s distance page, with a map of the Suez route.
Lanes: every main trade lane in our list of lanes from an East Asian port to North Europe. Lanes from Singapore are left out: from South-east Asia the Northern Sea Route is not a way to Europe.
How the distances are made
Each Northern Sea Route distance adds up three parts:
- From the Asian port to the Bering Strait (65°58′N 169°09′W): our sea network, the same one as on our distance pages.
- From Kara Gate to the Bering Strait: 2,551 nm, as published by the Arctic Council. Arctic Council, Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report, p. 23
- From Kara Gate (70°24′N 58°06′E) to the European port: our sea network.
For Shanghai–Rotterdam: 3,518 + 2,551 + 2,074 = 8,143 nm. The Suez distances are the shortest routes on our distance pages.
Our sea network also has a line along the Arctic coast, but it comes out longer than the Arctic Council’s figure, so the Arctic stretch uses the published figure instead. The report does not say which straits its figure follows; where a ship can pass changes the distance (see the straits below).
The network parts on either side were checked against NGA Pub. 151 Distances Between Ports (2001) and the Arctic Council report: every distance the book gives between Murmansk and one of our European ports, or between Nome or Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy and one of our East Asian ports. All 16 are within 5%; the largest difference is 4.1%.
The 16 checks
| Between | Published nm | Our network nm | Difference | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murmansk–Bergen | 1,105 | 1,143 | +3.4% | Pub. 151 Bergen -> Murmansk, PDF page 23 |
| Murmansk–Oslo | 1,450 | 1,497 | +3.2% | Pub. 151 Murmansk -> Oslo, PDF page 77 |
| Murmansk–Reykjavik | 1,501 | 1,563 | +4.1% | Pub. 151 Murmansk -> Reykjavik (north of Iceland), PDF page 77 |
| Nome–Hong Kong | 4,145 | 4,255 | +2.7% | Pub. 151 Hong Kong -> Nome, PDF page 53 |
| Nome–Yokohama | 2,696 | 2,767 | +2.6% | Pub. 151 Nome -> Yokohama, PDF page 81 |
| Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy–Busan | 1,731 | 1,763 | +1.8% | Pub. 151 Busan -> Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, PDF page 29 |
| Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy–Dalian | 2,260 | 2,301 | +1.8% | Pub. 151 Dalian -> Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy (via La Perouse Strait), PDF page 39 |
| Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy–Hong Kong | 2,863 | 2,933 | +2.4% | Pub. 151 Hong Kong -> Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, PDF page 53 |
| Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy–Kobe | 1,705 | 1,729 | +1.4% | Pub. 151 Kobe -> Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, PDF page 62 |
| Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy–Qingdao | 2,215 | 2,234 | +0.9% | Pub. 151 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy -> Qingdao (via Chetvertyy Kuril’skiy Proliv and La Perouse Strait), PDF page 89 |
| Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy–Shanghai | 2,200 | 2,240 | +1.8% | Pub. 151 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy -> Shanghai (via La Perouse Strait), PDF page 89 |
| Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy–Tianjin | 2,419 | 2,449 | +1.2% | Pub. 151 Dagu -> Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy (via La Perouse Strait), PDF page 38 |
| Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy–Xiamen | 2,596 | 2,670 | +2.9% | Pub. 151 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy -> Xiamen (via La Perouse Strait), PDF page 89 |
| Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy–Yantai | 2,226 | 2,270 | +2.0% | Pub. 151 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy -> Yantai (via Maenggol Sudo), PDF page 90 |
| Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy–Yokohama | 1,422 | 1,445 | +1.6% | Pub. 151 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy -> Yokohama, PDF page 90 |
| Murmansk–Kara Gate | 523 | 543 | +3.8% | Arctic Council, Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report, p. 23: 3,074 Murmansk-Bering Strait less 2,551 |
Permits, ice class and season
The distance is only the geometry. Whether a ship may use the route is set by Russia’s Rules of navigation in the water area of the Northern Sea Route (Decree No. 1487 of 18 September 2020, amended by Decree No. 1650 of 19 September 2022 and Decree No. 97 of 31 January 2024):
- Permit: navigation in the water area needs a permit, and a ship without one may not enter it. Permits are issued by the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom or an organisation under it. The application is due at least 5 working days before the ship is expected to enter the water area. Rules, points 2 and 3, as amended by Decree No. 1650 (2022) and Decree No. 97 (2024); point 7 as worded by Decree No. 97
- Ice class: for ships without an ice class, for each ice class and for each of the 28 areas of the water area, the admission criteria say whether a ship may sail there on its own, only with an icebreaker, or not at all, in heavy, medium or light ice or in clear water. Rules, Appendix 2 (admission criteria; Table 2 as replaced by Decree No. 97) and Appendix 3 (areas)
- Season: ships without an ice class or with ice class Ice1–Ice3 may sail there only from 1 July to 15 November. When the ice forecast is clear water, the dates in the permit can be changed on application by up to 20 days. Rules, Appendix 2, Table 1 and its footnote 1 as worded by Decree No. 97 (2024); point 17³⁻², fifth paragraph, added by Decree No. 97
- Polar Code: the permit application includes a copy of the ship’s Polar Ship Certificate, for ships the IMO Polar Code applies to. Rules, point 5(ж)
- The decree approving the Rules applies until 1 March 2028. Decree No. 1487, point 2, added by Decree No. 1650 (2022)
Shallow straits also limit the route. The Dmitry Laptev Strait, between the New Siberian Islands and the mainland, restricts ships to a draft below 6.7 m; the Sannikov Strait, the other passage through the islands, has a minimum depth of 13 m. Arctic Council, Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report, p. 23
Sources
- Arctic Council, Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME), Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report, second printing, p. 23: hdl.handle.net/11374/54
- Government of the Russian Federation, Decree No. 1487 of 18 September 2020 approving the Rules of navigation in the water area of the Northern Sea Route (in Russian): official publication; amended by Decree No. 1650 of 19 September 2022 (official publication) and Decree No. 97 of 31 January 2024 (official publication)
- NGA Pub. 151 Distances Between Ports, 11th edition (2001), for the checks above
- Our own sea network (searoute, as on our distance pages) for the legs to and from the Arctic stretch
Related
- Sea distances between ports, with the Suez and Cape of Good Hope routes
- EU ETS calculator: the cost of a voyage to or from an EU port
- All guides