Throughout history, ships have been the principal means for reaching the remotest regions of the world ocean. Such is the case at the end of the twentieth century as ships carry scientists, explorers, commercial fishermen and tourists, among others, to remote areas in the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. Since 1977, polar icebreakers have made an impressive total of twenty-eight voyages to the North Pole for science and tourism. Such access to the central Arctic Ocean by surface ship would have been unthinkable only thirty years ago, when the Arctic Ocean was considered the domain of the nuclear submarine. In the Antarctic ships carrying tourists have circumnavigated the continent, and thousands of people have visited the Antarctic Peninsula and the Ross Sea region by tourist ship. These voyages of discovery and adventure reflect unprecedented ship access to nearly all polar marine waters. Thus, it should not be surprising that national and international regulatory bodies have initiated the development of construction and navigation standards for polar ships.

NAVIGATING IN POLAR WATERS

What basic factors make ship navigation in polar waters unique compared to all other ship voyages across the global ocean? Obviously, polar waters are located at the extremities of the world ocean, generally remote from the centres of human civilisation and from the normal availability of port services and rescue capability.