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2022 October 24   10:02

Main Directorate of NSR warns about lack of icebreakers

New icebreakers of Project 22220 will serve the priority Arctic projects

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) may lack icebreakers, IAA PortNews correspondent cites Vladimir Arutyunyan, Head of Marine Operations Headquarters at Glavsevmorput (Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route), as saying at the 10th International Forum “Arctic Projects - Today and Tomorrow”.

“The third nuclear-powered icebreaker, Ural, will start operating this year. It has been practically chartered for Vostok Oil. Construction of two more icebreakers is to be completed in 2024 and 2026. They will immediately go to the regions where they are highly needed. We are short of icebreakers,” said the speaker.

Under an agreement with FSUE Rosmorport, the fleet of icebreakers operating on the NSR can be expanded with I/B Kapitan Dranitsyn, I/B Krasin, I/B Admiral Makarov and others.

The Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route FSBI has been operating as a part of Rosatom from 1 August 2022 under the Decree of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

In accordance with Presidential Decree of 2018, the State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM performs the functions of a single infrastructure operator for the development of the Northern Sea Route. The company operates the world’s only fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers.

The Northern Sea Route is a single transport system in the Russian Arctic sector. It stretches along the northern coasts of Russia across the seas of the Arctic Ocean (Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi seas). The route links the European ports of Russia with the mouths of navigable rivers in Siberia and the Far East. In August 2022, a plan for the development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) until 2035 was approved. The plan includes over 150 activities with total financing nearing RUB 1.8 trillion.

Related link:

At least 13 icebreakers to operate on the Northern Sea Route by 2030 >>>>