中国船舶首航东北航道及其展望

北极航道按其处于地球上的地理方位可分为东北航道和西北航道,东北航道按航线所处的纬度范围则可分为北极低纬航线(北极近岸航线)、北极中纬航线(作为国际常规航线)、北极高纬航线、挺极航线。"雪龙"号于2012年夏季书写了中国船舶首航东北航道的航海史。"雪龙"号从东北航道的起点白令海峡开始,沿东北航道抵达冰岛,并沿北极高纬航线返回白令海峡,完成往返穿越北冰洋之旅。据此,本文对北极航道的分类提出了一些看法,对东北航道的商业航行情况进行了总结,在此基础上概述了"雪龙"号此次首航东北航道的整个进程和关键问题,同时对中国建立北极航道战略进行了思考并提出了建议。

CHINA'SFIRST TRANS-ARCTIC VOYAGE AND RELATED EXPECTATION

According to their geographical azimuth on the Earth, the Arctic navigation routes can be divided into the Northeast Passage and the Northwest Passage; Base on their latitude ranges, the Northeast Passage can be divided into the Low Latitude Arctic Passage (Arctic coastal routes), the Mid Latitude Arctic Passage (as an international regular routes), the High Latitude Arctic Passage and the Near North Pole Passage. In the summer of 2012, Xuelong, a Chinese icebreaking research vessel, became the first ship from China that completed the entire Northeast Passage in Chinese voyage history. Xuelong started its Trans-Arctic Voyage from the Bering Strait and arrived in Iceland along the Northeast Passage, and finally returned the Bering Strait through the High Latitude Arctic Passage, completing a round-trip journey across the Arctic Ocean. This paper is base on the experience of this expedition to the Arctic Ocean. In this paper, the opinion about the classifications of the Arctic navigation routes was presented, the status of commercial utility of the Northeast Passage was summaried, the whole course and main issues of Xuelong explorering the Northeast Passage were reviewed, and finally some thinking and recommendations for China to establish its Arctic strategy on Northeast Passage were made.