On August 1, 2024, the Northern Sea Route General Administration, Federal State Budgetary Institution (NSR General Administration FSBI), established for the purposes of safe and comfortable navigation conditions in the NSR waters, presented the results of its two-year work. NSR General Administration FSBI is in charge of the NSR navigation permits, ship traffic monitoring and icebreaker assistance.
In total, over two years, 2,603 voyages were made and more than 2,300 icebreaker escorts organized in the waters of the Northern Sea Route, with about 2,400 navigation permits issued under the direct control of NSR General Administration FSBI. Besides, the Marine Operations Headquarters of the administration developed a unique deep-water route, which made possible the first ever transit of Capesize vessels along the NSR.
The professional team of NSR General Administration FSBI ensured trouble-free navigation on the route for two years, which adds to the attractiveness of the NSR as a commercial shipping route. “The base of customers for information and navigation support of voyages in the NSR waters almost doubled in two years. While in 2023 we had 9 contracts, in 2024 we have as many as 16 contracts, and there will be more,” said Sergey Zybko, Director General of NSR General Administration FSBI.
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The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is the shortest shipping route connecting the western part of Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Rosatom deems the development of the Arctic infrastructure and shipping as one of its key tasks. In 2018, the Government of the Russian Federation appointed Rosatom the NSR infrastructure operator and later, in December 2019, approved the NSR Infrastructure Development Plan until 2035 proposed by Rosatom.
According to 2023 results, the NSR international transshipment exceeded 2 million tons of cargo. On July 5, 2024, Atomflot presented the preliminary outcomes of 2024 winter-spring navigation. In the period from January 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024, nuclear icebreakers assisted 438 ship calls (against 435 calls for the same period in 2023) with the total gross tonnage of 50.4 million tons (against 48.6 million tons for the same period in 2023).
The development of the Northern Sea Route as a major logistics corridor is considered a national strategic priority. Increasing the NSR traffic is crucial to fulfill the tasks set in the field of integrated development of the Russian Arctic. This corridor progress is due to regular cargo shipping, construction of new nuclear icebreakers and modernization of the relevant infrastructure. Rosatom companies are actively involved in this task.
