In order to study the safe navigation condition of “Polar Silk Road”—the Arctic route，especially the safety distance between following ships and icebreaker, and the safety distance between following ships in the case of an icebreaker operating, the navigation resistances of ships, i.e. ship water resistance, ship wavemaking resistance, ice breaking resistance and ship braking performance on the Arctic route were analyzed to establish a traffic flow following model for Arctic routes based on the following model of the landbased traffic flow theory, and put forward the formula of safety distance of ships, the bow spacing and the speed of ship following. By using the specific information and data of “Yong-Sheng”, the model parameters were verified and the models were applied. Results show that the following model for the Arctic route has certain practical significance, which can effectively reduce the risk of navigation by virtue of navigation experience and provide support for the safe navigation of the Arctic route.