Cargo flow along Russia's Northern Sea Route may rise 3% in 2024 - Rosatom

MURMANSK. Dec 25 (Interfax) - Russia's Rosatom state nuclear energy corporation forecasts cargo flow along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to total 37.9 million tonnes in the current year, Vladimir Panov, Rosatom special representative for Arctic development, said.

"We are heading for 37.9 million tonnes, growth of about 3% compared to last year," Panov said in Murmansk at a meeting of Russia's State Council on the Northern Sea Route and the Arctic on Wednesday.

Panov said that Russian companies have been showing interest in replacing the route through the Suez Canal with the NSR in the eastern direction. Meantime, there has been an increase in the tonnage of ships navigating the NSR, he added.

Rosatom also projects an increase in cargo traffic along the NSR in the coming years, namely 44.2 million tonnes in 2025, 52.9 million tonnes in 2026, 68.6 million tonnes in 2027, and 85.1 million tonnes in 2028, Panov said in a presentation.

As reported, the volume of cargo traffic along the NSR totaled 36.254 million tonnes in 2023 and 34 million tonnes in 2022. Rosatom had projected cargo transportation along the NSR to rise to 40 million tonnes in 2024.

The boundaries of the NSR are defined by the Merchant Shipping Code as being from the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the west to Cape Dezhnev in Chukotka. Russian authorities call the NSR a new international transport alternative, emphasizing that the NSR is 30% shorter than the route from Europe to Asia via the Suez Canal.