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January 2011 www.sname.org/sname/mt (focus on education) Ice navigation, especially operation in polar waters, is one of the most dicult and chal- lenging modes of navigation in the world. However, the operation of ships in ice is not a new phenomenon: Its been routine practice for approximately 150 years for many countries sit- uated around ice-infested seas and neighboring the Arctic Ocean. The first attempts to find a sea route to Asia through the ice-covered waters north of Canada and Alaska as well as a search for a pas- sage to India date back to the 16th century. Not until 1879 and the Vega expedition of Adolf Erik Nordenskioeld was there a successful voyage through the Northeast Passage; and it was not until 1903 that Roald Amundsen made a success- ful expedition through the Northwest Passage. Regular marine activity did not start in the Arctic until the rst arctic icebreaker Yermak was built in 1898 by Russian Admiral S.O. Makarov. Arctic shipping has increased steadily ever since, but most of the shipping trac in the Arctic in the early 21 st century remains in waters either permanently or seasonably ice-free. Two excep- tions are the two year-round busy shipping lanes between the Russian ports of Murmansk and Dudinka (since the winter of 1978-1979) to export products from Norilsk Nickel and crude oil export from Varandey Oshore Terminal in the south- eastern Barents Sea. ere are also more than 80 commercial and government icebreakers and dozens of ice-strengthened cargo ships capable of operating in the Arctic beyond the summer sea- son, some of them year-round. Training and Experience Both are key to vessel operation in polar waters BY ALEKSANDR IYERUSALIMSKIY AND STEVEN SAWHILL Ice navigation training in a Transas Marine simulator. PHOTO COURTESY TRANSAS MARINE