A simulation model for the assessment of the northern sea route troughput

The purpose of the research is to analyse factors affecting the transit of vessels via the Northern Sea Route and to develop a simulation tool modelling the transit process accounting for ice conditions, icebreaker support requirements and convoy formation. The developed model allows for the assessment of the route throughput measured as the fraction of transit orders satisfied during the navigation period, and the average order delay time, affected by the total number of transit orders and the number of available icebreakers. Keywords: arctic shipping, icebreaker support, sea route throughput, simulation modelling, transit order Processing.