Rosatom looks into deepening of Tiksi port to 8 meters

Permanent cargo base is needed to maintain this depth

Rosatom is working on the issue of Tiksi port dredging to 8 meters. Maksim Kulinko, Deputy Director of Rosatom’s NSR Directorate, said at the Strategic Session “Russian Ports: A New Impulse For Port Service Development” held in the framework of the Neva 2023 exhibition in Saint-Petersburg.

“The work is underway to analyze where cargo is to be delivered, what types of it and by what vessels. With its depth of 3.5 meters Tiksi cannot welcome vessels with a draught of 8 meters. However, it would be good to get essential volumes of cargo delivered by large fully loaded vessels. If we proceed in the direction of building icebreakers with a large draught, we will face the need to deepen Tiksi considerably,” - he said.

According to Maksim Kulinko, RF Ministry of Defence insists that Tiksi should have a draft of 8-8.5 and operate almost year-round.

“There are instructions in this respect. We are working to this end and analyzing expenses and the scope of the required dredging. Parallel to the issue of the state security there is one regarding who takes it on balance. The depth should be maintained by using port dues… With no cargo flow it will be silted up in a year or two while the budget is short of money,” said Maksim Kulinko.

Arctic seaport Tiksi is located on the coast of the Laptev Sea. Tiksi is the key point in the chain of deliveries to Yakutia under the Northern Delivery programme when essential consumer goods, fuel and materials are delivered during a shorter navigation period as compared with other Arctic ports. The seaport can accommodate vessels with a draught up to 5 meters.

Under RF Government’s decision dated 27 May 2023, Tiksi seaport is included into the list of seaports open for foreign vessels.

In 2022, the port of Tiksi handled over 481 thousand tonnes of general and liquid bulk cargo.

The 7^th Hydraulic Engineering and Dredging Congress organized by Russia’s leading industry focused media group PortNews will be held in February 2024. Read more about the Congress >>>>