In the north-west of Russia, in the Arctic Ocean, the Laptev Sea is located. It washes the shores of the Taymyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands and, of course, Siberia. As in other seas of the Far North, the climate here is very harsh, about 10 months a year the air temperature is below zero, and because the water is not too salty, it freezes quickly. Shipping by the Laptev Sea is complicated by the fact that it is released from the ice only at the end of summer and in October severe winter begins again.
Basically, this water area is used for navigation; even in the vicinity of the coast there is no production of fish, furs and meat on an industrial scale. Few people live on the coast; no islands located here have permanent local settlements — only military facilities and polar stations. Nevertheless, they also need transportation by the Laptev Sea. The supply to soldiers and researchers who stay here for a long polar winter is extremely important.
The largest port on the coast is Tiksi, home to about 5 thousand people. The settlement is located in Bulunsky Ulus and belongs to Yakutia. Logistics by the Laptev Sea also includes the transport of goods along the rivers that flow into this water area. And another important Arctic port — Khatanga, which stands on the same-name river, joins Tiksi. A part of the Laptev Sea is included in the Taymyr reserve, managed from Khatanga.
It is noticed that transportation by the Laptev Sea always involves crossing a significant ice massif — this is a fairly shallow water area, freezing to great depths. Ice is formed here greater than in the other three seas of the Arctic Ocean — East Siberian, Kara and Barents.
Transportation of cargoes by the Laptev Sea is often a part of multimodal transport from Europe to Asia and vice versa. The Northern Sea Route with vessels carrying goods for export or carrying out cabotage transportation lies in this water area.
In Soviet times, icebreakers cruised to Dudinka in the east (the Kara Sea) and from Pevek to eastern ports. There was almost no shipping of goods by the Laptev Sea and communications with local ports. Now, thanks to the development of oil fields and creation of military bases in the Arctic, even this difficult for the passage water area, has been mastered.
For example, Cape Kozhevnikov and Nordvik settlement developed reserves of coal and salt about a hundred years ago. Also on the northern coast of Siberia (the Republic of Sakha) there are deposits of diamond, gold and tin. If earlier delivery by the Laptev Sea was limited to the export of furs, wood, building materials, now ships are chartered for the delivery of heavy machines to the military, residential modules, economic and military cargoes, as well as equipment and food for polar explorers.
However, modern equipment of ships allows them to ply the Laptev Sea with the support of the icebreaker fleet without special difficulties and regularly supply the inhabitants of military towns and civil settlements.
