By
Rebecca Gibson |
Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ expedition ship Hanseatic has become the first non-Russian passenger ship to sail the Arctic’s Northeast Passage.
On 26 August the 122.8m ship reached the northern-most point at 85°, 40.7’ north and 135°, 39.6’ east. At this latitude, Hanseatic was just 480 kilometres from the North Pole.
“Unusual ice conditions made this record possible,” said Captain Thilo Natke. “North of the New Siberian Islands in the Russian Arctic, there was a large ice-free zone stretching north through the Arctic Ocean, which we used for this spontaneous detour.”
To commemorate the record, Hanseatic’s guests took a Zodiac ride along the edge of the pack ice and enjoyed an onboard party.
Hanseatic, which departed from Nome, Alaska, on 12 August, will sail to Severnaya Zemlya to enable guests to enjoy several Zodiac landings, before cruising through the Kara Sea, Novaya Zemlya, the Barents Sea and Murmansk. The ship will then sail to the Norwegian ports of Hammerfest and Bodö, where the voyage will end on 10 September 2014.