Russian coal and Canadian iron ore are headed north for China as dry bulk owners expect a bigger shipping year along Russia's Northern Sea Route.

Dry bulk remains overshadowed by energy shipping in the north.

But global warming and longer ice-free summer seasons are encouraging bulker players with Arctic experience and ice-class tonnage to expand operations there. Voyages now underway already exceed the number of panamax and larger dry bulk transits done in all of 2019.