On 27 February, the crew of the Arktika, Atomflot’s lead universal nuclear icebreaker, assisted the Nikifor Begichev in mooring at the ice platform in Slobodskaya Bay. The unloading of construction materials from the ship onto the ice berth has begun.
“For the first time, a nuclear icebreaker assisted a ship in mooring in Slobodskaya Bay,” said Alexander Skryabin, captain of Atomflot’s Arktika. “The Yenisei region is experiencing active development, and the ice berth network is expanding. As we were approaching the bay, we successfully navigated a three-mile-long ice barrier consisting of continuous ice ridges ranging in thickness from three to five meters. This was the only challenge we met. Mooring at the ice platform proceeded as usual and took slightly more than two hours to complete”.
An ice berth is a temporary ice platform used for ships to unload and load their cargo. This is especially important in the Arctic, where conventional ports may not be available. Mooring a vessel at an ice berth requires highly skillful maneuvering and careful consideration of ice conditions making it one of the most challenging tasks. Atomflot and NSR General Administration FSBI are in charge of ensuring the safety of such operations, which helps develop the transportation infrastructure in the Arctic.
“Due to the operational universal nuclear icebreakers we have the most optimal logistics for mooring vessels at ice platforms,” said Vladimir Arutyunyan, First Deputy Director General – head of the Maritime Operations HQ at NSR General Administration FSBI. “Ice berths at the port stations of Vorontsovo, Karaul, and Tanalau on the Yenisei river will start operating in the near future. Unloading on fast ice will continue until the beginning of May.
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The Northern Sea Route is the shortest shipping route that connects the western part of Eurasia with the Asia-Pacific region. The NSR administratively begins at the border of the Barents and Kara Seas (Kara Gate Strait) and ends in the Bering Strait (Cape Dezhnev). The route is 5.6 thousand km long. The NSR traverses the seas of the Arctic Ocean (the Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi seas). It serves the ports of the Arctic region as well as ports on major Siberian rivers. At present, there are six major seaports along the NSR in the Russian Arctic including Sabetta, Dikson, Dudinka, Khatanga, Tiksi and Pevek. With the support of Rosatom, a project is being implemented to develop the Great Northern Sea route, a shipping corridor that runs from St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad to Vladivostok.
In 2018, the Russian Government appointed Rosatom the infrastructure operator of the Northern Sea Route (NSR). The corporation oversees the federal project “Development of the Northern Sea Route” and participates in the Northern Sea Route development plan until 2035 as well as the initiative for the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation until 2030 “Year-Round Northern Sea Route” approved by the order of the Russian Government.
The comprehensive development of the Russian Arctic is a national strategic priority. To succeed in the tasks set, it is crucial to increase the volume of cargo shipped along the NSR. This logistics corridor is being developed through regular cargo shipping, construction of new nuclear icebreakers and modernization of the relevant infrastructure. Rosatom companies are actively involved in this work.
