The Bering Strait is a narrow, international strait that separates Chukotka in Russia’s Far East from Alaska, the only chokepoint between North America and the Arctic Ocean. It is a shallow waterway on the continental shelf with water depths averaging 100 to 160 feet and is seasonally ice-covered with an open water navigation season from May–June to October–November.
One of the most environmentally sensitive and biologically productive marine regions of the world, indigenous coastal communities ring both sides of the strait. Hunting and fishing has been the cornerstone of their culture and existence for millennia. The region is an international flyway for migrating birds, a major waterway for migrating marine mammals, and a valuable regional marine fishery. The complexity of marine resource management includes mitigation efforts to reduce the effects of vessel accidents, discharges, spills, ship noise, and ship strikes on marine mammals.
Ship traffic through the Bering Strait is increasing primarily because of more commercial ship transits on Russia’s Northern Sea Route and small increases in summer voyages along Canada’s Northwest Passage. The Marine Exchange of Alaska (MXAK), a public-private-partnership in Juneau, monitors Automatic Identification System (AIS) ship signals using a network of land-based receivers around the Alaskan coast. MXAK data for 2020–23 indicates an annual average of 576 large vessels transiting the Bering Strait; the highest annual ship count is 681, as of 2023. These recent traffic levels contrast with an annual average of 338 AIS-tracked ships during the previous decade (2010–19). While the yearly numbers might seem large, the daily number of ships transiting the strait is three to eight vessels during the ice-free navigation season.
Traffic along the Russian coast of the strait is dominated by tankers, bulk carriers, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers moving cargoes south. Icebreaking LNG carriers have been transiting in recent winters, and Russia hopes to expand this into a year-round operation. Along the western coast of Alaska, most of the vessels are tugs and barges in summer supplying coastal communities and hydrocarbon developments on Alaska’s North Slope. In addition, the coastal community Kivilina services the export of zinc ore from the region’s Red Dog Mine. Each summer, approximately 25 large bulk carriers transit the strait and anchor off Kivilina, where barges lighter the ore, which is then shipped to smelters around the Pacific.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been developing new governance measures to enhance marine safety and environmental protections that apply to the Bering Strait region. In July 2018, the IMO Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (the Polar Code) came fully into force with specific regulations for ship safety, environmental rules, and mariner training and experience. Sixty degrees north is the Polar Code boundary in the Bering Sea, meaning all commercial ships on international voyages through the Bering Strait must adhere to the code’s standards. In 2018, the IMO approved a U.S.-Russia plan for voluntary (two-way) shipping lanes for the strait.
Future challenges in the Bering Strait region will be driven by climate change and the continued retreat of Arctic sea ice, which will provide greater marine access and longer seasons of navigation for commercial ships as well as naval and coast guard vessels. Icebreaking commercial ships, such as the LNG carriers sailing from western Siberia, will likely attain reliable, year-round navigation through the strait. Increased marine traffic will necessitate enhanced monitoring and surveillance, as will the implementation and enforcement of the Polar Code by Russia, the United States, and all flag states with ships operating in these polar waters. Russia and the United States will continue to share responsibility for regional marine management and safety, while also likely increasing the frequency of naval exercises and law enforcement operations with allies and partners.
