Smaller ships are to be deployed
In 2023, the number of subsidized voyages on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is to be increased to four under the Northern Delivery programme. Smaller ships are to be deployed for calls at shallow ports, press center of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic cites Gajimagomed Guseinov, Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic.
Gajimagomed Guseinov spoke at the offsite meeting dedicated to the social and economic development of the Far East in 2022 and priorities for 2023 chaired by Yury Trutnev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation - Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District. The Deputy Minister reminded about the regular cargo service launched on the Northern Sea Route in 2022 with 2 voyages from Russia’s North-West ports to the Far East and back. According to him, 8.5 thousand tonnes of cargo was transported, the loading of the second voyage reached 90%.
The Deputy Minister says the draft law on Northern Delivery is to be considered by the State Duma during the spring session. “To make the law operational from the next year we should launch a unified system for the northern delivery planning, define a single sea operator and start creating a center for the northern delivery administration. Besides, 10 bylaws are to be developed and approved,” said Gajimagomed Guseinov.
When speaking at the meeting, Aleksey Chekunkov, Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic said that exports along the Northern Sea Route are to exceed $100 billion in 7 years while the “role of the Northern Sea Route for the economy of Russia will be comparable to that of the oil and gas sector.”
In November 2-22, he Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic submitted the Draft Federal Law on Northern Delivery to RF Government. The document foresees a principally new system of the Northern Delivery, introduces the concept of the Northern Delivery and distributes responsibilities among different levels of authorities. The law is to provide for establishment of a single operator, for cargo categorization, making the list of transport and logistics facilities and financing of this network maintenance. Besides, the federal monitoring and control system is to be created as well as single procurement platform to ensure accumulation of large batches.
The Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic is to serve as a single coordinator of the Northern Delivery.
As of today, the Northern Delivery covers 25 regions of Russia with the populating exceeding 3 million people. Over RUB 87 million is allocated annually for the purchase and delivery of 3 million tonnes of cargo.
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. According to the plan, the annual cargo traffic on the Northern Sea Route is to reach 80 million by 2024, 150 million tonnes by 2030, 220 million tonnes – by 2035.
In 2022, cargo traffic on the Northern Sea Route totaled 34.034 million tonnes with the target of the federal project “Development of the Northern Sea Route” exceeded by 2 million tonnes.
Related links:
Draft Law on Northern Delivery submitted to RF Government >>>>