In comparing the costs between the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the Suez Canal Route (SCR), the NSR icebreaking tariffs are critical. A balance question of pricing rises: to cut the tariffs to attract more ship operators to use the NSR, or to increase the tariffs to cover the cost of the icebreaker fleet? However, currently active NSR icebreaking tariffs are in ceiling level, and the practical icebreaking fee is often negotiated and lacks transparency. This study explores the optimal NSR icebreaking tariff level from the price maker side for the transit tramp shipping on the NSR. The interlock of the exchange rate of Russian ruble per US dollar and the bunker price is also considered. By establishing a framework with four components and applying real data to implement the empirical study, we find that the optimal NSR icebreaking tariff level is 15% higher than the current ceiling level. At the optimal tariff level, the NSR can save 4.5–12.4% of the annual shipping cost from the SCR, whereas in a single voyage can save as high as 49.4%.

在比较北海航线（NSR）和苏伊士运河航线（SCR）之间的成本时，NSR破冰收费至关重要。价格上涨的一个平衡问题是：削减关税以吸引更多船舶运营商使用NSR，还是提高关税以支付破冰船队的成本？但是，当前有效的NSR破冰关税处于最高水平，实际的破冰费用通常需要协商，而且缺乏透明度。这项研究从价格制定者的角度探索了NSR上的运输流浪者运输的最佳NSR破冰费率水平。还考虑了俄罗斯卢布对美元的汇率与燃油价格之间的联系。通过建立一个包含四个部分的框架并应用实际数据来进行实证研究，我们发现最佳的NSR破冰关税水平比当前的最高限额高15％。在最佳关税水平下，NSR可以从SCR节省年度运输成本的4.5–12.4％，而在单次航行中可以节省高达49.4％。