Due to the eastward pivot of logistics, the key Arctic projects and coastwise shipping along the Northern Sea Route will additionally require 97 cargo fleet units by 2030, IAA PortNews correspondent cites Vyacheslav Ruksha, Deputy General Director of Rosatom - Director of the Northern Sea Route Directorate, as saying at the 1st Hydrographic Conference held in Saint-Petersburg.
According to the speaker’s presentation, in 2023, cargo transportation under key projects in the Arctic are carried out by 30 vessels including 17 gas carriers and tankers servicing the projects of Novatek, 7 tankers — Gazprom Neft’s New Port project, 6 tankers and container ships – Nornickel.
Under construction are 33 ships. In 2024, 57 new ships will be needed to service the major projects in the Arctic. The fleet of ships servicing the projects of Novatek is to be increased by 16 units to 33 units, the AEON’s Severnaya Zvezda (North Star) project will require 9 bulkers, the Vostok Oil project - 2 tankers.
The calculations of Rosatom show that by 2030 the projects of Novatek will require 39 gas carriers and tankers, Gazprom Neft — 7 tankers, Nornickel — 6 tankers and container ships, АЕОN — 25 bulkers, GDK Baimskaya — 3 bulkers , Rosneft — 11 tankers, Rosatom — 9 container ships and 10 multipurpose ships for the Northern Delivery programme. Besides, the need for 50 more is expected. So, a total of 160 ships will be required for the key projects in the water area of the Northern Sea Route by 2030 taking into account the increasing cargo flow.
When speaking at the Conference, Vyacheslav Ruksha emphasized that those would be mainly large ships, hence the need for a broader vision of hydrographic conditions in order to ensure safe shipping on the Northern Sea Route.
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.