By 2023, RF ship repair market is expected, by some estimates, to grow 1.6 times to RUB 144 billion. It is Russia’s fishing fleet numbering about 2,000 ships that suffers one of the most urgent ship repair problems. Ship repair bases should be developed in all fishery basins with investments estimated at RUB 20 billion. Experts believe that this segment development can be financed by private resources if alliances of ship repair companies and ship owners are set up.

Russian geologists have gained their first experience in successful application of a relatively cheap method to conduct geological survey of the continental shelf subsoil by drilling stratigraphic wells of small depth using geotechnical vessels. That lets do without expensive exploration drill rigs but Russia has only one proper ship, head of RosGeo department for offshore geological exploration, told IAA PortNews.

Russian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and methanol used to be mainly bound for Europe. However, Russia lacks dedicated port facilities. The bulk of seaborne methanol exports and a considerable share of LPG exports goes via Finland and can be blocked any time.

Eastward pivot of Russian economy dictates the need to facilitate the development of remote territories. Energy is the key to their successful development. With this in mind, it is planned to continue production of unique floating nuclear power plants. Floating platforms of composite materials have been designed for accommodation of related facilities. Creation of hydrogen clusters is also on the agenda, although it is viewed as exotic so far.

The Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok has probably outplayed the Saint-Petersburg Economic Forum this year in view of cargo flows turning eastwards. When speaking at the plenary session, Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a “logistics boom”. The focus is still on the development of the North-South ITC and the Azov-Black Sea Basin ports. Operation of terminals and shipping companies in the peak market has been also covered by the business.

No international transit is expected on the Northern Sea Route this year. Perhaps, that is for the best since intense development of international shipping on the Arctic route could potentially lead to perverse political and legal effects.

FSUE Rosmorport hands over the order for construction of two shallow draft icebreakers of Project 22740 from the Far East shipyard Zvezda (consortium of Rosneftegaz, Rosneft and Gazprombank) to its Petrozavodsk, Karelia based Onezhsky Shipbuilding, Ship Repair Yard. The delivery of ships was to begin in 2025. Analysts expect that handing over of the order will let cut the delay of icebreakers delivery.

With the Big Four dredging companies of Europe having left Russia, the tenders under the Arctic projects attract Russian businesses. MezhRegionTruboprovodStroy JSC (MRTS) is registered as a bidder for maintenance dredging in the water area and on the access canal to terminal Utrenny (port Sabetta) in the navigation season of 2022 under NOVATEK’s Arctic LNG 2 project. The contract price is RUB 246.6 million.

RF Government started subsidizing coastal voyages in the Arctic from the ports of Saint-Petersburg and Murmansk to the Far East terminals. From the beginning of the year, annual allocations for those purposes make RUB 560 million. However, nuclear-powered container ship Sevmorput deployed for this purpose is only 10% loaded. Shippers say the route organization lacks awareness

Latvia declares Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. Estonia restricts the issuing of visas to citizens of Russia. Lithuania continues creating difficulties for transit. Russia, in its turn, warns about serious consequences of such actions. Meanwhile, in the first half of 2022, ports of Russia’s Baltic neighbors handled 9.8 million tonnes of Russian cargo. Can they be redirected to the domestic ports in full?