The Arctic shipping lane provides year-round navigation
Russian President Vladimir Putin in his annual address to the Federal Assembly welcomed foreign shipping companies, logistic operators to actively use the capabilities of the Northern Sea Route (NSR).
“Further development of the Northern Sea Route is our special focus. We invite foreign logistics companies and countries to actively use the opportunities of this global transport corridor,” President Putin was quoted as saying.
He added that Russia plans to ensure year-round navigation on the Northern Sea Route, to boost cargo throughput at northern seaports and to increase the country's Arctic fleet, including through the construction of LK-60 series nuclear-powered icebreakers “Leningrad” and “Stalingrad” and the Leader-class 120 MW icebreake “Rossiya”.
Throughput capacity of the seaports along the Northern Sea Route increased to 40.5 million tonnes at the end of 2023, and cargo traffic volume reached 36 million tonnes.
The Northern Sea Route is Russia’s unified transportation artery in the Arctic. It runs along the northern coast of the country, the seas of the Arctic Ocean (Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukotka), connecting the ports of the European part of Russia and the mouths of navigable Siberian rivers with the country’s Far East. In August 2022, the Russia approved a plan for the development of the Northern Sea Route until 2035, which included more than 150 measures. Overall, the government assigned about 1.8 trillion rubles for its financing. The annual cargo traffic on the NSR is projected to reach 80 million tonnes in 2024, 150 million tonnes in 2030, and 220 million tonnes in 2035.