About

A bridge-level view, independently applied

Frostwaypoint is an independent maritime advisory led by Alexey Solonenko, Master Mariner. It exists to put watchkeeping judgement behind passage planning and high-latitude navigation questions — one practitioner, working directly with the operator.

Icebreaker-assisted passage

What Frostwaypoint is

A small, specialised advisory rather than a consultancy with a staff list. Work is carried out by Alexey Solonenko personally: a Master Mariner holding an Unlimited Master licence and a Full DP Master qualification, with sea time across offshore operations, container shipping and navigation in high-latitude waters.

The starting point is always the bridge. A passage plan is a document a master has to act on at three in the morning in deteriorating visibility, not a theoretical exercise — so the questions asked here are the ones asked on watch: what are the real constraints, what are the alternatives, and what happens when conditions change.

The scope is deliberately narrow. Frostwaypoint advises on navigation and voyage preparation. It does not arrange permits, book icebreaker escort, act as agent, or hold any regulatory authority — where a passage needs those, the operator deals with the competent authority directly.

A cargo vessel under way through ice-covered water

Command

Master, unlimited

An Unlimited Master licence — command of vessels of any tonnage, on any voyage, with the accountability that goes with it.

Offshore

Offshore operations

Station-keeping work where position, weather window and proximity to other units govern what is possible on any given day.

Positioning

Full DP Master

Dynamic positioning at master level: understanding the system's limits and what its failure modes mean for the operation under way.

Container

Container shipping

Liner trade, where schedule pressure is constant and the cost of a routing decision is measured in hours against a berth window.

Since 2015

High-latitude navigation

Navigation in northern waters: ice conditions as an operational constraint rather than a chart symbol, and the seasonal judgement that goes with it.

What Guides Us

Say what is known

Ice information carries a resolution, an age and an uncertainty. Advice that hides those behind a confident recommendation is worth less than advice that states them, because the master is the one who has to act on it.

The margin is not negotiable

Schedule pressure is real and it is understood — it is the same pressure the trade runs on. It does not change what a hull can take. Where the answer is to wait, or to route around, that is the answer given.

III

Know where the limit is

Frostwaypoint advises; it does not certify, approve or represent. Anything that requires an authority's decision is named as such and left with the authority — a clear boundary is more useful to an operator than an implied one.

Credentials

Master Mariner

Unlimited Master

Certificate of competency as Master on vessels of unlimited tonnage. The licence that carries final responsibility for the passage, the ship and the people on board.

Full DP Master

Dynamic positioning

Full Dynamic Positioning Master qualification, earned in offshore work where station-keeping, redundancy and failure modes are daily operational questions rather than theory.

ICE

Ice & high latitude

Northern waters since 2015

Navigation in ice-affected waters: reading ice information as an operational constraint, judging seasonal windows, and planning passages where the margin narrows with the season.