It is expected that in 2021 the cargo turnover along the Northern Sea Route will exceed 34 million tons.
The volume of cargo transportation in the water area of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) reached a record level, exceeding 33.5 million tons. This was reported to TASS by the directorate of the Northern Sea Route of Rosatom on Friday.
“We expect that in 2021 the cargo turnover along the Northern Sea Route will exceed 34 million tons,” said Maxim Kulinko, deputy director of the Northern Sea Route Directorate, noting that transit along the Northern Sea Route by mid-December 2021 exceeded 2 million tons against 1.3 million tons for the entire 2020.
As they recalled in the directorate of the NSR, in 2016 the volume of cargo transportation along the NSR for the first time exceeded the indicators achieved in the USSR (6.5 million tons, 1987), and reached 7.5 million tons. And in 2020, the cargo turnover along the NSR amounted to 32.97 million tons.
The bulk of the cargo traffic was created by oil and gas investment projects: petroleum and its products - 7.7 million tons, LNG and gas condensate - 19.6 million tons. They transported 221.5 thousand tons of coal, 47.7 thousand tons of ore concentrate, and more than 4 million tons of other cargo.
In accordance with the passport of the federal "Development of the Northern Sea Route" project, the target at the end of 2021 is 32 million tons. The federal project is supervised by the state corporation "Rosatom". In 2018, a law was adopted giving it powers in the development and functioning of the NSR. The management of the Northern Sea Route is based on the principle of "two keys" - the Ministry of Transport of Russia is responsible for normative regulation, and Rosatom is responsible for commercial and economic functions.
The purpose of the federal "Development of the Northern Sea Route" project is to create infrastructure that will increase cargo traffic to 80 million tons in 2024 and 110 million tons by 2030, as well as increase the total capacity of seaports to 110 and 115 million tons, respectively. The project is part of a comprehensive plan for the modernization and expansion of the trunk infrastructure for the period up to 2024, developed in accordance with the decree of the President of Russia "On national goals and strategic objectives of the development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024."
Source: TASS