Cargo traffic on Russia's Northern Sea Route topped 36 mln tonnes in 2023 - Rosatom

MOSCOW. Jan 10 (Interfax) - Cargo shipping along Russia's Northern Sea Route reached 36.254 million tonnes in 2023, up more than 250,000 tonnes from 2022, the Rosatom state corporation said.

"Record cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route was achieved thanks to our partners - primarily Novatek , whose liquefied natural gas makes up more than half of the traffic, as well as Gazprom Neft , Lukoil and Norilsk Nickel , which redirected their cargo from the west to the east. As a result, we reached the targeted 36 million tonnes even before the New Year," Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev was quoted as saying.

"Transit cargo on the NSR not only returned to the 2021 level but also hit a new all-time high or 2.129 million tonnes in 2023. Most of it was oil - 1.5 million tonnes, as well as iron ore concentrate - 350,000 tonnes. Gazprom also sent one tanker load of 70,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas, and ELSI Mining also sent one ship with 70,000 tonnes [of coal]. Transit cargo is an indicator of demand for the Northern Sea Route, so its growth from the point of view of maritime logistics is a crucial result," said Vladimir Panov, Rosatom's special representative for Arctic development.

Rosatom said 1,218 permits were issued for Northern Sea Route in 2022, compared with 1,163 in 2022, including 115 to foreign companies, up from 55. There were 80 transit shipments in 2023, up from 47 in 2022. Large non-ice class vessels were escorted twice through the NSR in August and October: the bulk carrier Gingo and the bulk carrier Platos passed along the NSR from the port of Murmansk to the Chinese ports of Qingdao and Dalian. In addition, in 2023, three regular cabotage shipments were carried out along the NSR from northwestern Russia to the regions of the Far East and back.

Cargo traffic on the NSR came to 34 million tonnes in 2022.