Shipments along the Northern Sea Route with the involvement of Newnew Shipping Line and Rosatomflot.
On 5 July 2024, the first railway “Northern Sea Route Express No. 1” departed from the logistics center in the Moscow region to Arkhangelsk with container cargo on board to be further delivered to China along the Northern Sea Route. Cargo will be shipped with the involvement of Chinese Newnew Shipping Line and Rosatomflot (Rosatom’s company).
The ceremonial start of “SNR Express No. 1” took place in the presence of Zhang Hanhui, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China, Veronika Nikishina, Director General of the Russian Export Center; Alexander Tsybulsky, Governor of the Arkhangelsk Region; representatives of Rosatom, Government of the Moscow Region, and Chinese and Russian business community.
“The NSR development does not only mean the Arctic development, but also the interregional connection and international cooperation. The first ship of Newnew Shipping Line is going from China to Arkhangelsk along the Northern Sea Route in the near future. Four voyages are scheduled to be made from Arkhangelsk to China in August. In total, Newnew Shipping Line plans up to 12 voyages this year,” said Vladimir Panov, Rosatom Special Representative for the Arctic development.
“The startup of the Arctic Express is of historical significance within the project for the Northern Sea Route development. Newnew Shipping Line with Rosatom’s support and in cooperation with Torgmall and Belyi Rast Container Terminal presented a rail-sea service project – “NSR Express No. 1”, which is to give a new impetus to the logistics development of the two countries and promote the trade cooperation,” said Mr. Ke Jin, a representative of Newnew Shipping Line.
The express started exactly one month after signing of an agreement between Hainan Yangpu Newnew Shipping Co. Ltd. and Rosatom at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The document provided for a year-round container shipping service along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) between the ports of China and Russia. According to the document, the organization of a year-round container service between the ports of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation involves the establishment of a joint venture that will design and construct high-ice-class container ships and jointly operate the Arctic container service.
The estimated transit time is 25 days.
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The NSR international transit exceeded 2 million tons of cargo at year-end 2023. On July 5, Atomflot evaluated the preliminary results of winter-spring navigation. From 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2024, nuclear icebreakers assisted 438 ship calls (against 435 ship calls for the same period in 2023). The total gross tonnage amounted to 50.4 million tons (against 48.6 million tons for the same period in 2023).
The development of the Arctic infrastructure and shipping is a major area of Rosatom’s activity. In 2018, the Government of the Russian Federation appointed Rosatom the NSR infrastructure operator. In December 2019, the Government of the Russian Federation approved Rosatom’s plant for the NSR infrastructure development until 2035.
The development of the Northern Sea Route as a major logistic corridor is a national strategic priority. To increase the NSR cargo traffic is crucial to the tasks set in the field of the integrated development of the Russian Arctic. This corridor is progressing due to regular cargo transportation, building of new nuclear icebreakers and modernization of the relevant infrastructure. Rosatom companies are actively involved in this work.
