More shadow fleet oil tankers and LNG carriers have been spotted along the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic Circle in the two months of the summer-fall navigation season than were seen in the area during all of last year.
For years, so-called shadow fleet vessels have been used by Russia to evade Western sanctions and continue exporting oil and gas to overseas buyers, often taking steps to conceal their movements by switching off their transponders, while hiding their ownership records behind a maze of shell companies. According to a report from environmental NGO Bellona, 50 shadow fleet oil tankers and 18 LNG carriers were seen traveling the NSR between mid July and mid September, compared to 38 such tankers and 13 LNG carriers identified along the route over the entirety of 2025.
Bellona blames the increase in shadow fleet traffic along the NSR on a lack of sufficient sanctions against Russian Arctic oil and gas projects, and a lack of meaningful secondary sanctions buyers of Russian energy resources. The NGO also tracked an increase in shadow fleet shipments to Asian countries.
The majority of shadow fleet vessels are believed to be more than 15 years old, while carrying a low ice class, meaning that they have limited ability to safely navigate ice-covered waters without assistance from icebreakers. This puts shadow fleets at high risk for accidents in the icy waters of the Arctic, particularly given the region's harsh operating conditions, and its limited emergency response infrastructure.
The NSR cuts a 3,500 path through the Arctic Circle, and is typically only navigable during a short summer window, when warmer weather melts away sea ice along the surface of the water. As warming global temperatures brought on by climate change have extended that window, China and South Korea have sought to use the route to transport commercial cargo. However, major carriers like CMA CGM, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have pledged to avoid Arctic shipping routes in light of environmental concerns.
