The Northern Sea Route will see its third record in less than a month when the largest ever bulk carrier to take the route leaves Murmansk next week. It is also the first time a Japanese shipping company sends a vessel through the Northeast Passage.

Only a week after the largest tanker to sail through the Northeast Passage left Murmansk for Southeast Asia, the 75,600 DWT bulk carrier MV Sanko Odyssey is ready to make the same voyage, loaded with 72,000 tonnes of iron ore bound for China.

The vessel is currently loading the iron ore produced at Kovdor mining company on the Kola Peninsula in Murmansk Port and is bound for departure in the end of August.

Mr Vladimir Arutyunyan in Rosatomflot said to RIA Novosti that Sanko Odyssey is owned by the Japanese shipping company Sanko Line and this is the first time a Japanese shipping company uses the Northern Sea Route. The vessel will be escorted by at least one nuclear powered icebreaker through the passage.

(Sourced from www.barentsobserver.com)