Trutnev calls for Rosatom to be sole operator for managing shipping on Northern Sea Route

MOSCOW. April 14 (Interfax) - The management of shipping along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) should be handled by a single operator and it should be state nuclear company Rosatom, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev said in an interview with TV channel Rossiya24.

"We analyzed the system of management in the waters of the Northern Sea Route. It needs some reform. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin gave such instructions. Work was done in a strategic session, the common proposal is unequivocal. We believe that the management of shipping on the Northern Sea Route should be carried out by one single operator. And this single operator is Rosatom," Trutnev said.

Far East Development Minister Alexei Chekunkov also said in an interview with Rossiya24 that a "consensus is forming that the most natural body that could consolidate icebreaker support and route all traffic on the NSR" could be a division of Rosatom.

"Rosatomflot is already the main participant and operator of the key link in the NSR - icebreaker support. And for the NSR to become a year-round route - our objective by 2024 - this support must be predictable, guaranteed and economically beneficial for cargo shippers. Work is underway. I think that already within the next year a new system of managing and coordinating traffic on the NSR will be created. The government will retain regulatory functions, specialized ministries. But actual dispatching, management of the fleet will be carried out by a division of Rosatom," Chekunkov said.

Trutnev said there is "very strong demand for the Northern Sea Route, very strong demand for the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) and Trans-Siberian Railway."

"There is currently huge demand for any route that leads to the Far East. Back when we held the first Eastern Economic Forum we said that the country is turning eastward. At the time this was, perhaps, a slogan that was a little ahead of its time. But today this is the absolute reality," Trutnev said.

"Indeed, all freight traffic is turning to the east. And I must honestly say that it's impossible to make it so that these routes carry the fully amount of freight in a month or two, because there is a lot more freight. But we can't put off this work for a day. We need to work on developing the Northern Sea Route, expanding the throughput capacity of eastern railways and sort out our border crossings," Trutnev said.