Galushka: Northern Sea Route test passages to be agreed with Hyundai in early 2018
MOSCOW. Dec 25 (Interfax) - The plan for making test passages on the Northern Sea Route will be agreed with South Korean Hyundai Merchant Marine at the beginning of 2018, Russian Far East Development Minister Alexander Galushka said in an interview with Interfax.
"South Korean Hyundai Merchant Marine, whose senior vice president I met with in Korea in November, is very interested in implementation of this project. He and I reached agreement on test, practice passages on the Northern Sea Route," Galushka said.
"We plan to agree the test passage plan at the end of the first quarter of 2018. We propose that several vessels make a passage on the Northern Sea Route, watch for where the tight spots are, what problems arise for the Korean side, what is lacking, perhaps navigation questions will arise. Based on the results of the test passages, we will plan our next steps," Galushka said.