The traffic along the Northern Sea Route may become year-round in the near future, within the next few years, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society (RGO) that was held via videoconference.
According to the Kremlin press center, Vladimir Putin emphasized the extensive economic development of the Arctic, including the Northern Sea Route and related traffic.
“We have embarked on a path of extensive economic development of the Arctic, including the Northern Sea Route and related traffic. I discussed this matter with some of our colleagues yesterday as well. Russia is building the world's most powerful icebreaker fleet, including giants such as the Leader Project series icebreakers, which are unparalleled. To reiterate, yesterday we said that traffic along the Northern Sea Route may become year-round in the near future, within the next few years, and this will most likely be the case”, said the President.
The meeting participants reviewed the RGO’s performance in 2020, mapped out the main areas of activity for the short term, and presented the most significant and outstanding expedition and research projects for 2021.
The target set for 2020 under the federal project “The Northern Sea Route” was as high as 29 million tonnes with the project aimed at the NSR development to reach annual cargo traffic of 80 million tonnes in 2024. “The Northern Sea Route” project is supervised by Rosatom.