The Potential of the Northern Sea Route for a Regular Cargo Service. Each commodity traded by sea between Europe and the Far East has its own transport requirements. Some of these requirements stem from the physical characteristics of the goods, others from the terms of their sale. Various types of commercial shipping arrangements have been developed to accomodate the requirements of the different goods. If a regular cargo service were to use the NSR, that service would have to be based on cargoes which are compatible with the severe weather and ice conditions and relatively short operating season.
Commercial shipping has two extremes.
At one extreme are those ships which adhere to strict, predictable schedules, at the other those which operate as 'tramps'. A tramp ship has no fixed itinerary, being chartered for the most attractive cargo convenient to its previous port of discharge. In between these two extremes are cargo service specializing in certain types of cargo or particular geographical areas, often both. To test the viability of the Northern Sea Route for cargo services between Europe and the Far East, this analysis started with a study of the actual cargoes offered on the London shipping marked to determine which were suitable as a basis for service. Once this was established,detailed costings for loading, carrying and discharging these cargoes were obtained from the companies involved in these operations.