Rosatom estimates future demand for ice class ships intended for operation on NSR
Shipbuilding is among the key directions in the NSR development
The creation of a fleet of ice class vessels including icebreakers, cargo vessels, ships providing support, technical and port services is among the key directions in the development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), IAA PortNews correspondent cites Maksim Kulinko, Deputy Director of Rosatom’s NSR Directorate, as saying the Neva 2023 conference “The Northern Sea Route аs а Basis for Economic Sovereignty and a Factor of the New World Logistics: Realization of the Mainline Potential” in Saint-Petersburg.
“We are currently estimating the need for vessels which are to operate in the Northern Sea Route waters: the types of ships, of what draft and for what cargo. It is an important task to draft an order so that the economy can be planned and ships can be ordered with loans raised and resources attracted," said Maksim Kulinko.
According to the speaker, shipbuilding is among the key sectors ensuring the development of the Northern Sea Route and the achievement of the planned NSR traffic volumes. First of all, the shipbuilding industry is to build icebreakers so that at least 13 units could be deployed by 2030 to ensure year-round navigation in the eastern direction. Besides, there is a demand for cargo carriers, auxiliary ships, technical and port fleet.
“To export hydrocarbon products from the Arctic regions, a cargo fleet – gas carriers and tankers - will be in urgent need. Besides, at least 5 bulk carriers will be needed by 2024-2025 to ship coal from the Syradasay field to the APR countries,” said the representative of Rosatom.
According to him, at least 10 ice class tugs will be needed under the Baimsky GOK and the Syradasay projects. They should be put into operation in the near future.
As Maksim Kulinko told IAA PortNews, the estimation of the future demand for the NSR fleet should take into consideration the purpose of ships, their types and technical specifications as well as synchronization of their commissioning with the plans for implementation of the Arctic projects.
As Vyacheslav Ruksha, Director of the Northern Sea Route Directorate, said earlier, a total of 160 ships of high ice class would be required for exports of products from the Arctic projects by 2030.
The Northern Sea Route is a single transport system in the Russian Arctic sector. It stretches along the northern coasts of Russia across the seas of the Arctic Ocean (Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi seas). The route links the European ports of Russia with the mouths of navigable rivers in Siberia and the Far East. In August 2022, a plan for the development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) until 2035 was approved. The plan includes over 150 activities with total financing nearing RUB 1.8 trillion.
According to the plan, the annual cargo traffic on the Northern Sea Route is to reach 80 million by 2024, 150 million tonnes by 2030, 220 million tonnes – by 2035.
