#Comment 5
The analysis done by WP7 and the developed ships by WP4 was disjointed as you pointed out. WP7 had conducted their assessment in a much earlier stage than WP4. We pointed out the same issue you raised in the coordination meeting in Feb. 1998. WP7 answered that if a ship is designed to meet the regulations applicable to year round to navigation and the navigation is as frequent as assumed in the analysis, the analysis may lead to the same results as implemented by WP7. We are not certain of this assumption, although the risk level from the environmental assessment is not directly reflected in the insurance cost in chapter 2.3.
#Comment 6
The cost component and escorted days corresponding to Figure 4.1.2 and Figure 4.1.3 are shown in Table A and Table B respectively. From these figures, it is clear that the difference in fuel cost is the main reason for the fact that freight costs in October are slightly lower than those in September. In September, the ice condition was locally very severe in the vicinity of Mys Archicheskiy Cape, so that the escort icebreaker appeared for about 3 days in that area. Navigation conditions were not so different in other areas of N route. The fuel consumption of the simulated vessel in escorted mode is smaller than the independent voyage mode and is assumed to have a 10% increase in fuel consumption in open water. As a result, the freight cost in October was slightly lower than that in September.
