In 2025, ship traffic in the Arctic hit a new high, with 1,812 unique vessels navigating within the Polar Code area. This information comes from the Arctic Council Working Group on the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME). This marks a 40% increase compared to 2013, the year when PAME started monitoring traffic using its Arctic Ship Traffic Data (ASTD) system.

This increase shows how quickly the Arctic is becoming an active area for commercial shipping. Though modern commercial voyages through Russia’s Northern Sea Route began only in 2009, shipping has accelerated, aligning with growing oil, gas, mining, and fishing activities.

PAME's data indicates that not only are there more vessels, but they are also doing more trips. The total sailing distance in the Arctic grew by 95%, going from 6.1 million nautical miles in 2013 to 11.9 million in 2025. Ships are making more frequent voyages within a year, especially along Russia’s Arctic coastline and in mining supply routes.

Traffic varies greatly by season, peaking from August to October when sea ice is at its lowest. In September 2025, PAME recorded 1,060 vessels entering the Arctic, making up 58% of the total traffic for the year.

Fishing vessels are still the most common ships in the Arctic, primarily coming from the Bering Sea and Barents Sea. General cargo ships are the second-largest group, delivering supplies to remote communities and transporting materials for big projects like Vostok Oil and Arctic LNG 2, which have required millions of tons of construction materials since starting in 2022.

The category that has grown the most is crude oil tankers, which have increased fourfold over the last 12 years. Some of these ships do not have ice-class protection, causing worries among environmentalists.

LNG shipping has also seen a significant rise. Before late 2017, there was no LNG traffic recorded in Russia’s Arctic waters. By 2025, 40 different LNG carriers were operating in the Polar Code area, many supporting projects like Yamal LNG, which uses specialized icebreaking tankers to deliver gas year-round to Europe and Asia.

According to Hjalti Hreinsson, Deputy Secretary at PAME and manager of the ASTD system, natural resource extraction remains the main reason for this growth. “Compared to other marine regions, the Arctic still has relatively few ships, so even a few large industrial projects can make a big impact on the statistics,” he explained.

For instance, Canada’s Mary River Mine, which started production in 2015 at one of the richest iron ore deposits in the world, has led to a dramatic rise in bulk carrier traffic in Baffin Bay. These ships covered over 130,000 nautical miles in 2025 alone, transporting ore and supplies.

Even with overall growth, traffic along Russia’s Northern Sea Route has recently leveled off due to Western sanctions that complicate financing, ship building, and insurance for Russian energy projects. Construction delays and limited access to specialized vessels have hindered some planned expansions, restricting growth in Russia’s Arctic region even as global activity in the Arctic continues to rise.