Winter-spring navigation season begins on the Northern Sea Route
As the NSR traffic is expected to grow, Rosatom builds up its fleet of icebreakers
Winter-spring navigation season began on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) on December 1, FSUE Atomflot (Rosatom company) wrote in its Telegram channel.
In late 2021, over 20 vessels got stuck on various lanes of the Northern Sea Route due to a challenging ice situation. They could not proceed independently and Rosatom organized an operation to escort the convoys of vessels involving the icebreakers. As the NSR traffic is expected to grow, Rosatom builds up its fleet of icebreakers. At least 13 icebreakers will operate on the Northern Sea Route by 2030, according to the earlier statements.
Under the contract with FSUE Atomflot, Baltiysky Zavod is currently building two icebreakers of Project 22220 (Yakutia and Chukotka). The lead icebreaker in the series, Arktika, and two serial icebreakers, Sibir and Ural, have already been put into operation. Besides, Shipbuilding Complex “Zvezda” (Bolshoy Kamen, Primorsky Territory) is building a nuclear-powered icebreaker of Leader type.
As Maksim Kulinko, Deputy Director of Rosatom’s Northern Sea Route Directorate, told IAA PortNews earlier, six icebreakers to be built at the expense of companies operating in the Arctic and Rosatom would be powered by diesel fuel instead of LNG.
FSUE Rosmorport is the largest operator of icebreakers in the world. Rosmorport runs a fleet of 23 line icebreakers and 10 port service icebreakers annually supporting year-round navigation in 15 seaports of the Russian Federation located in the Baltic, White, Caspian, Azov, Okhotsk, Japan and Kara seas.
In accordance with Presidential Decree of 2018, the State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM performs the functions of a single infrastructure operator for the development of the Northern Sea Route. The company operates the world’s only fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers.
Related links:
Main Directorate of NSR warns about lack of icebreakers >>>>
At least 13 icebreakers to operate on the Northern Sea Route by 2030 >>>>
