Rosatom creates arctic subsidiary for development of cargo projects on NSR

MOSCOW. Dec 28 (Interfax) - On December 22, the Rosatom state corporation established a subsidiary, JSC Rusatom Arctic, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

The company will develop new areas of business for the state corporation in the Arctic, Rosatom told Interfax.

JSC Rusatom Arctic is tasked with implementing Arctic projects related to the development of the cargo base of the Northern Sea Route. The main areas will be transportation and logistics support, development of mineral and raw material clusters, energy and infrastructure support in order to form comprehensive offerings for the market, including assistance in the development of existing and prospective investment projects," the state corporation said.

Rosatom has been the infrastructure operator of the Northern Sea Route since 2018 and is responsible for organizing navigation, construction of infrastructure facilities, navigation and hydrographic support and the system of navigation safety in harsh Arctic conditions.

Cargo transportation along the Northern Sea Route is expected to reach a record 36.6 million tonnes in 2023. Cargo traffic here is divided into three types. The first includes shipments from the Ob Gulf and Yenisei Bay. The second includes coastal cargoes necessary for supplying investment projects in the Arctic, as well as northern imports. The third type of cargo is transit, which includes vessels with ports of loading and unloading outside the NSR.

The Russian president has set the goal of increasing cargo turnover on the route to 80 million tonnes in 2024. Over the past few years, a number of important government decisions have been made to boost hydrocarbon projects along the NSR, as well as to develop the infrastructure and fleet along this route. Among them is the Northern Sea Route development plan through 2035 with total funding of almost 1.8 trillion rubles.

Russian authorities have emphasized that the NSR, which is 30% shorter than the route through the Suez Canal, could become a new international transportation alternative, and that Russia is ready for international partnership in the development of the route.

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