By 2030, annual cargo traffic on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is expected to reach 110-120 million tonnes including 60-70 million tonnes to be transported eastwards, Vyacheslav Ruksha, Deputy Director of Rosatom - Director of Rosatom’s Northern Sea Route Directorate, said at the Transport Week 2020 in Moscow.
According to him, the forecast is based on the expected flow of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Gulf of Ob which is estimated at 60-70 million tonnes per year, crude oil including that from Vostok Oil project and Norilsk Nickel cargo.
Meanwhile, the speaker says the Arctic can face lack of powerful icebreakers by that time. Although five LK-60 icebreakers will operate in the region by 2027 and a Leader icebreaker will join them later, operation of three icebreakers will be terminated.
“Icebreakers of less than 45-50 MW are useless in the Arctic as they cannot ensure commercial speed for large vessels ... At least six icebreakers are needed for the Gulf of Ob and the Gulf Yenisey alone... I am afraid, this task (annual shipment of 110-120 million tonnes by NSR - Ed.) cannot be physically supported by our icebreakers in full”, said Vyacheslav Ruksha.
Related links:
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1.28 million tonnes of transit cargo carried by Northern Sea Route in 10M’2020>>>>
NSR cargo traffic to exceed 31 million tonnes in 2020 – Aleksey Likhachev>>>>