Volumes of cargo carried by regular coastal voyages on NSR to rise 2.3 times to 20 thousand tonnes in 2023
Apart from container carrier Sevmorput, smaller ships will be deployed
In 2023, the number of regular coastwise voyages along the Northern Sea Route will be increased from 2 to 4 with the volumes of cargo to be increased 2.3 times, from 8,500 tonnes to 20,000 tonnes, IAA PortNews correspondent cites Gajimagomed Guseinov, First Deputy Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, as saying at the 8th International Conference “Arctic-2023”.
A regular coastwise line between Saint-Petersburg and Vladivostok launched in 2022 numbered 2 voyages of nuclear-powered containership Sevmorput. “The line turned out to be in demand from investors and additionally get other ships able to call at shallow water ports to ensure northern delivery,” said Gajimagomed Guseinov.
According to him, coastwise voyages are subsidized under the rules approved in 2022 in the framework of the federal project “Northern Sea Route Development”. In 2023, the subsidy will total RUB 504 million, 1.8 times as much as in 2022 (RUB 275 million).
RF Government started subsidizing cargo transportation between the ports of Saint-Petersburg, Murmansk and the Far East region in 2022. RUB 560 million will be allocated for that purpose annually. A total of RUB 7.84 billion is foreseen under the Northern Sea Route Development Plan until 2035. Rosatom and the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic are responsible for organization of the voyages.
In 2022, FSUE Atomflot was announced the winner of the competition to select a company for subsidized coastwise cargo transportation. Two round voyages between the ports of Russia’s European and the Far East were made in 2022. The loading for the first voyage to the Far East was 10% and it reached 90% for the second one while the back loading was as high as 46%.
In 2022, cargo traffic on the Northern Sea Route totaled 34.034 million tonnes with the target of the federal project “Development of the Northern Sea Route” exceeded by 2 million tonnes. In 2023, 36 million tonnes of cargo is to be delivered to the Arctic and the Far East Regions.
The nuclear-powered container ship “Sevmorput” (named after the Northern Sea Route) was built at Kerch based Zaliv Shipyard in 1988. The Sevmorput is intended for transportation of cargo to the remote northern areas. The ship can break through continuous field ice of up to 1 meter thick at a speed of about two knots and carry some 36,000 tonnes of cargo.
