Murmansk region eyes a container terminal to service the NSR

The Murmansk region authorities considering the project of construction of a container terminal that would handle cargoes shipped on the Arctic container line between the ports of Murmansk and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a Murmansk region official said Thursday at the Arctic forum in St. Petersburg.

Speaking at the 4th International Forum “The Arctic: Present and Future", the Vice-Governor of the Murmansk region Alexei Tyukavin said that the recently retrofitted LASH "Northern Sea Route" could make a pilot transit in 2016 and that Atomflot is quite positive about the proposal. Later, we could deploy on the line ice-class container ships, the official said.

In addition, it is expected to utilized freezer vessels of the fishing port, which could receive the fish shipped from the Far East.

The vice-governor told that some companies from China and Japan have expressed their interest in the project. He said that there's no need to expect foreign shipowners and it could be wise to give the Arctic line to a Russian operator.