There is good news from the Arctic for the shipping industry.  According to data released by the Northern Sea Route Administration, the nodal agency of the Russian Federal Government which manages the Northern Sea Route (NSR), 330 applications from ships have been received since April 2013 informing the agency of their plans to transit through the NSR this summer. Of these, 213 applications were approved and 51 rejected. The reasons for rejection of applications and the fate of the balance 66 applications have not been made public.

The Arctic Circle is the new circumpolar forum to address Arctic issues. It is the brainchild of Ólafur Grímsson, Iceland’s President and his team comprising of Prince Albert II of Monaco, Greenlandic Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski and Russian explorer Artur Chilingarov, who seek to engage a number of stakeholders through an inclusive process. The forum was launched at the National Press Club in Washington in March 2013 and aims to provide opportunities to a variety of stakeholders to present their views on ‘Arctic matters’.

Two Russian built warships with the same name i.e. Admiral Gorshkov have been making news in the last few weeks. The first vessel is an aircraft carrier which was sold to India in 2004 and is rechristened as INS Viramaditya. It has been plagued in controversy due to costs and time over runs. The pre-delivery trials of the ship were unsuccessful and according to reports, the vessel will have to wait till the White Sea ice melts during the summer of 2013 to complete the trials.