It has been an Arctic odyssey for the ships and crews that in November got stuck in sea-ice on the remote Northern Sea Route. After a month of icy captivity and subsequent icebreaker rescue, a convoy of nine vessels this week made it to safety in the Kara Sea. On December 7, a Russian nuclear icebreaker completed

Never before at this time of year have so many vessels been rescued out of the ice, says Russia's nuclear icebreaker operator Rosatom. It has been an Arctic odyssey for the ships and crews that in November got stuck in sea-ice on the remote Northern Sea Route.

Rosatom says the Northern Sea Route has “more space to draw peculiar pictures using your giant ships.”

A new study sheds light on some of the risks associated with Arctic shipping finding that vessels with lower ice-classes are up to 20 times more likely to become stuck in sea ice along Russia’s Northern Sea Route than vessels with higher levels of protection.