A veteran ice navigator explains why the Arctic isn’t the global shortcut many still expect
By Kathy A. Smith
USCGC Polar Star, in the Ross Sea, breaking the channel for McMurdo Station resupply.
Ice “liberty” while awaiting first inbound ship. Photo courtesy of Captain Snider.
The much-touted Arctic shipping boom is not all it’s cracked up to be. With a career spent navigating ice in both the Arctic and Antarctic, Captain David "Duke" Snider says the reality is far more complex than headlines suggest.
“I’ve been doing polar work for roughly 50 years, and the growth in shipping, anecdotally, certainly, has been incremental. Climate change has contributed to that, but it’s not the only driver,” he explains. “There is some interest in commercial cargo other than resupply, but the advantages of the Northern Sea Route or Northwest Passage as being a massive economic alternative to Suez or Panama Canal aren’t coming true.”
Snider’s fascination with the Arctic began when his father, a Canadian Air Force pilot, flew search-and-rescue and Arctic mapping flights. He brought back many stories and carvings that piqued the young boy’s interest. Years later, after a stint in the Canadian Navy, Snider began work with the Canadian Coast Guard, eventually as second officer aboard the CCGS Nahidik, which plied the MacKenzie River in the Northwest Territories. There were no satellite communications back then, and the charting was poor. "You were driving by the seat of your pants,” he says.
Catching the Arctic Bug
“It was when we got out past Kittigazuit into the Mackenzie Basin that I thought, ‘Oh my God. This is amazing,’" he says. It was his time aboard the Martha L. Black, a light icebreaker, and later the MV Arctic, a pioneering Canadian icebreaking cargo vessel, which cemented his love for the Arctic.
“That’s when I first got to break ice. It’s not just running a ship and looking at a chart, staying on a red line. You have to know what you’re looking at.” By the time he was operating at the highest levels of ice navigation, Snider had seen firsthand how different the Arctic reality is from the popular narrative.
(Right) Captain Snider, then Second Officer onboard MV Arctic.
Photo courtesy of Captain Snider.
Why Arctic Shipping Isn’t a Global Shortcut
There are two types of shipping in the polar regions, both of which are seeing marginal increases. Destination shipping, which is shipping in and out of a region, and transit-type voyages that run through the Northwest Passage from east to west.
MV Federal Tiber entering Milne Inlet, August 2015.
Photo courtesy of Captain Snider.
Destination shipping in the Northern Sea Route is driven by Russian oil and gas exports. “That is Russia’s only way of getting international currency and money into the country now, considering the very stringent sanctions that are still in place,” explains Snider. “But the increases, particularly those that are quoted in the media for the Northern Sea Route, are based around tonnages of cargo. That’s tonnage related to the export of raw materials, oil and gas. In Canada, it’s the same.”
Snider took the first commercial ship into the inlet terminal for the Mary River Ore Mine on Baffin Island, Nunavut in 2015. There had been trial voyages up to that point, but that was the first scheduled commercial one. From that time, statistics have been quoted demonstrating a massive increase in shipping through the Northwest Passage. But due to numerous hazards, there hasn’t been a single Mary River mine ship traveling westward through the Northwest Passage since.
There are approximately 70 voyages a year taking iron ore out and a number of voyages taking supplies in. “That’s about 6 million tonnes,” says Snider. “If you look at those six or seven million tonnes of cargo in one year prior to 2015, the numbers are impressive, but that piece is destinational, and it really takes place only at the very eastern edge of the Arctic.”
He points to a widely publicized 2013 voyage when Nordic Bulk Carriers sent the Nordic Orion through the Northwest Passage from west to east. At the time, media coverage framed the journey as a sign that Arctic shipping was on the verge of taking off. The ice-class 1A vessel’s roughly 1,000-nautical-mile route from Vancouver to Finland reportedly saved approximately $80,000 in fuel by avoiding the Panama Canal.
But if the route were truly financially viable and the risks manageable, many more ships would already be using it, particularly containerships. However, container shipping requires fixed dates and schedules. With the impact of ever-changing ice floes, voyages can be delayed or diverted at any time. For example, proposed schedules for resupply ships that have been offered by companies for decades are very clear in their messaging that arrival times are not guaranteed. Even passenger vessels face similar constraints, according to Snider. “We do see wagon board ships go through, which are very specialized ice-class ships, but they are on a very specialized run,” he says. “That is not an example of broad commercial acceptance.”
Onboard Finnish Icebreaker Nordica during the earliest transit of the Northwest Passage in July 2017.
From L-R, Nordica Master Captain Jyri Viljanen (now a Martech Polar Ice Navigator), Captain Snider, Captain Bill Woityra USCG Observer, Captain Victor Gronmyr CCG Observer (now a Martech Polar Ice Navigator, RAdm (Retd)), Nigel Greenwood, Martech Polar Ice Navigator. Photo courtesy of Captain Snider.
When ships head into the Arctic, immense preparation is required. For instance, it took several years to prepare the passenger vessel MV Crystal Serenity which transited the Northwest Passage in 2016 and 2017. There was much media hype from concerned parties about environmental issues, yet the company very carefully laid out a solid plan, chartering RSS Ernest Shackleton, to support the ship, carrying extra survival equipment, rations, and extra pollution response equipment to get it through the voyage. But it wasn’t enough to entice them to return with that ship after the second year due to unexpected variable ice conditions. This signaled a gradual change in the hardware in the passenger expedition sector, as operators realized it would be too risky and costly to navigate polar waters without a high-level ice-class vessel.
Growing Arctic populations are also a contributing factor to the incremental increase in Arctic shipping. When Snider first arrived in the Arctic, most of the villages had upwards of 300 to 600 people living in them. “They’ve doubled in size, but doubling in size is not thousands,” he says. "It’s several hundred more,” he adds, citing the fact that doubling means there is a greater need for basic supplies, for fuel and items such as 72-inch TVs, for example. “Unless there is a very clear economic driver, shippers are not going to start surging into poorer waters.”
What’s Changing in Arctic Ice
The beginning of the Arctic navigation season has not changed dramatically, though it is starting slightly earlier in some areas. What has changed much more noticeably is the end of the season. Freeze-up is occurring significantly later across both the Arctic and Antarctic, extending the shipping season at the back end.
At the same time, the loss of multi-year ice has introduced new complications. In the past, the heavy ice pack tended to hold itself together as a more rigid mass. With less multi-year ice now present, the remaining ice is more mobile and can move into areas rarely seen before. Multi-year ice is now occasionally appearing in places such as Coronation Gulf, which would typically have been largely ice-free by August.
Other changes are appearing as well. Areas like the Beaufort and Chukchi seas were once considered iceberg-free. Today, as multi-year ice pulls away from the northern Canadian archipelago, glacial ice can drift into those waters. Snider’s recent voyage aboard the Japanese research vessel Mirai, demonstrated this fact as the ship encountered a four-mile-long iceberg in the Beaufort Sea, something that would have been unheard of a decade ago.
Onboard the Japanese vessel RV Mirai in the Beaufort Sea.
From L-R, Chief Officer, First Officer, Captain Snider,
Captain Inoue, and Chief Radio Officer. Photo courtesy of Captain Snider.
Over time, advances in steel quality, hull design, and propulsion systems have improved the ability for vessels to operate in heavy ice. Azipods and other podded propulsion systems, once considered too vulnerable for bulk carriers operating in multi-year ice, for instance, are now common on high ice-class ships because they offer better maneuverability and have proven more durable than many expected. Still, there are other variables at play.
Seeing the Ice and Misreading It
Satellite imagery has significantly improved navigation in the Arctic, but interpreting those images requires considerable expertise. “Depending on the type of image and the type of satellite, the frequency changes,” says Snider. The most effective imagery for ice navigation comes from synthetic aperture radar satellites, such as Canada’s radar satellite system. These systems send radar signals to the surface and measure what bounces back, producing detailed images that can reveal ice conditions regardless of cloud cover or darkness. But resolution is critical. If the smallest pixel is about 500 metres, smaller ice floes won’t appear.
Additionally, the growing number of commercial weather-routing services offering Arctic ice information has added another complication. Operators often rely on lower-resolution imagery because it is cheaper and easier to obtain, producing daily charts that appear reliable but may be inaccurate for navigation. In several insurance arbitration cases Snider has been involved in, masters have relied on such products and sailed into areas they should never have entered. “You’re sailing blind, but you think you’re not,” he says. “Satellite imagery is a powerful tool, but only when used by navigators who understand its limits.”
Regulating the Polar Frontier
Having worked across both Coast Guard and commercial operations, Snider has also seen the regulatory gaps firsthand. The ships that make several voyages in the polar regions aren’t necessarily getting ice time for their crews. They’re not as experienced in the region as one would think, given their seeming burst of activity.
Before the IMO Polar Code entered into force on January 1, 2017, regulations governing polar shipping were largely national, creating what Snider describes as a “hodgepodge” of requirements. Countries such as Canada and Russia were clear on one point: Vessels operating in their waters had to carry experienced ice navigators. Today, the Code is still missing this piece.
Efforts to create an international Polar Code date back to the 1990s, when Canada proposed a detailed framework that included robust requirements for ice navigation skills and experience. That proposal was ultimately set aside in favour of non-mandatory guidelines, which significantly diluted those standards. Canada maintained its own stricter regulations in the interim, continuing to require qualified ice navigators for vessels operating in Arctic waters.
When the Polar Code was finally adopted, it was pushed through quickly in response to growing safety concerns and several serious incidents in polar regions, according to Snider, who led a project to write the standards for ice navigation. “In my mind, an ice navigator is an individual who is certified as an ice navigator who has met the experience and competency requirements of the Nautical Institute ice navigator training and certification. It’s a license. It’s a ticket.”
But strangely enough, during the process of the IMO finalizing the Code back then, requirements for ice navigation expertise were reduced. While the Code introduced mandatory training for bridge officers—basic for watchkeepers and advanced for senior officers—it did not require actual experience operating ships in ice. As a result, even today, certification can be obtained with minimal time in polar waters, sometimes without encountering ice at all.
“So here we are with an international code. It’s mandatory. Ships must meet it,” says Snider. “They must have persons with polar waters training on board. But they’re not ice navigators. They’re bridge officers who have, in some cases, received their certificate of proficiency from a flag state after spending a total of four days on a desktop computer and a training course.”
Finish icebreakers Fennica and Nordica transiting the Northwest Passage, October 2015, at the time the latest full transit. This was several years in the planning. Captain Snider was Ice Navigator. Photo courtesy of Captain Snider.
Enter The Nautical Institute
The Nautical Institute, a UK-based educational charity with consultative status at the IMO, played a key role in the development of the Polar Code. In the lead-up to its approval, the Institute had developed a comprehensive ice navigation training scheme and intended to incorporate it into the Code. While countries such as Canada and Norway supported it, those requirements were ultimately removed during the final stages of adoption.
In response, The Nautical Institute moved forward with its own certification program. NI Ice Navigator Level 1 or Level 2 certificates go beyond the minimum Polar Code requirements by including both simulator training and time operating in ice. In 2017, Snider was the first president of The Nautical Institute from North America and oversaw the development of the scheme. During this time, he also penned the book Polar Ship Operations: A Practical Guide.
Under The Nautical Institute’s system, candidates complete basic and advanced polar training, then gain a minimum of 60 days of experience operating in ice before qualifying for advanced certification. “So now we’ve got what’s required by regulation and this other piece that you can put on top of it to prove the competency,” says Snider. Today, only a small number of training institutions worldwide are accredited to deliver this level of ice navigation training alongside standard polar waters courses.
While the regulatory framework plays an essential part in preparing crews and ships for operating in polar waters, the predominant issue is the economic viability of doing so. Unfortunately, any so-called fuel savings associated with polar voyages are quickly lost. “You have to build a more expensive ship that has more steel, is more expensive to run, and you have to have people that are properly trained and have special equipment,” explains Snider. “Mainly because as soon as you take a ship north or south of 60, your insurance rates start to go up. There is no way past it.”
From Ice Navigator to Industry Leader
Snider’s long-standing fascination with the polar regions ultimately led him to launch Martech Polar Consulting Ltd in 1994. The company maintains a global team of 30 ice navigators, all of whom possess current STCW Master Mariner equivalent Certificates of Competency, The Nautical Institute’s Ice Navigator Level 2 Certification, and Certificate of Proficiency Polar Waters Advanced Training. Their assignments often last weeks or months, supporting everything from research vessels and cargo ships to expedition cruises and offshore operations in both the Arctic and Antarctic.
Unlike ice pilots or advisors who briefly board a ship to provide guidance, Snider’s navigators join the vessel as members of the crew. “We sign on as ship’s crew. We’re part of the hierarchy, and we can stand watches,” he explains. This integration means the navigator can take direct control of the vessel when necessary, something a traditional pilot does not do. It also places legal responsibility for navigation within the ship’s command structure rather than outside it.
The company’s guiding principle is simple: Safety comes first. “We keep the ship safe, the cargo safe, the people safe, and the environment safe,” explains Snider. “If something isn’t safe, we say no.”
After achieving master level during his illustrious career, Snider commanded several Canadian Coast Guard vessels, including CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier, CCGS John P Tully, CCGS W. E. Ricker, and more. He retired in 2013 as Director, Fleet, Western Region. But he’s never stopped going to sea. Even today, he still heads out once or twice a year as ice navigator for Martech Polar clients. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal in 2011 for his years as a member of the Nautical Institute, the Canadian Coast Guard Exemplary Service Medal, and the United States Coast Guard Antarctic Service Medal.
Snider once described standing on the bridge with a ship under his control as happiness. Looking back on his lengthy career, he concludes, “One of the most amazing things is I never planned any of this. It’s just the doors that opened kept pointing towards ice in the polar regions.”
(5th from the right) Chief Officer onboard CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Photo courtesy of Captain Snider.
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