Cargo shipping along Russia's Northern Sea Route to reach record 36.6 mln tonnes in 2023 - Trutnev

MOSCOW. Dec 13 (Interfax) - Cargo shipping along Russia's Northern Sea Route (NSR) should reach a record 36.6 million tonnes in 2023, Yuri Trutnev, Deputy Prime Minister and Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation in the Far East Federal District, who is also in charge of the development of the Arctic, said during an interview with Rossiya-24 TV.

Answering what are the plans for shipping goods along the NSR in 2024, Trutnev said that, "Let me first report for 2023. There will be a record volume of shipping in 2023. We believe today that it will be 36.6 million tonnes. This is more than had been planned."

Earlier, Rosatom's special representative for Arctic development, Vladimir Panov, told Interfax that the transportation of transit cargo in 2023 reached 2.1 million tonnes, a record in the history of the route, with oil becoming the main transit cargo for the first time.

As reported, the total volume of cargo transportation along the Northern Sea Route in 2022 reached 34 million tonnes.

Previously, the Russian President set the task of increasing Northern Sea Route cargo traffic to 80 million tonnes in 2024. Over the past few years, there have been a number of important government decisions made to promote the activation of hydrocarbon projects, as well as the development of infrastructure and fleet along the NSR. These include a plan for the development of the Northern Sea Route through 2035 with total funding of almost 1.8 trillion rubles.

The boundaries of the NSR are determined by the Merchant Shipping Code: from the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the west to Cape Dezhnev in Chukotka.

There are three types of freight traffic on the Northern Sea Route. The first is shipments from the Gulf of Ob and the Yenisei Gulf. The second involves coastal cargo needed to supply investment projects in the Arctic, as well as northern deliveries. The third type is transit, including ships with loading and unloading ports outside the NSR.