ABSTRACT
The rapid ice melt occurring in the Arctic provides little room for optimism due to the catastrophic toll on the environment. But even as climate change continues to generate extraordinary challenges, it is also creating new opportunities for commercial shipping along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) linking Asia and Europe. As shipping industry participants consider utilising the NSR as an alternative to the Suez Canal, they must contend with the unique risks associated with these voyages. Part of this calculus involves revisiting underlying contractual arrangements, including those critical to vessel chartering, to ensure appropriate risk balancing between shipowners and charterers. With this challenge in view, this chapter examines charterparty clauses that carry implications for NSR voyages, including an assessment of relevant clauses contained in popular time and voyage charterparty form contracts. These include clauses addressing issues such as insurance obligations, navigating and routing limits, icebreaker and ice pilotage responsibility, vessel safety certification and weather-related delays, among others.
