On 4 September 2025, a meeting of the Northern Sea
Route Shipping Council was held as part of the business program of the 10th
Eastern Economic Forum. The meeting brought together the council's regular
members and invited participants.
“In the past few years, the NSR has seen a remarkable surge in freight traffic. Few other major transportation systems worldwide have experienced such rapid growth in freight over the past five years. The Council's work is currently guided by the directives issued by the President of Russia following his visit to Murmansk in March. The agenda for today's meeting reflects these directives: the development of the NSR is to foster the further development of the Arctic and Far Eastern regions of our country, and to enhance the competitiveness of Russian products in global markets. A crucial aspect for the sustainable growth of the Northern Sea Route is striking a balance between the interests of the stakeholders involved in the infrastructure development and those responsible for cargo transportation. I would like to point out that today’s meeting of the Council took place at the historic HQs of Far Eastern Shipping, which this year celebrates its 145th anniversary. The HQs of Far Easter Shipping has been instrumental in the development of shipping in the Eastern part of the Arctic,” emphasized Sergey Frank, Chairman of the NSR Shipping Council.
In his address to
the Council, Alexey Likhachev, CEO of Rosatom, announced that the construction
of the keel for the nuclear icebreaker Stalingrad would commence in November
this year. He added that the nuclear icebreaker fleet, which currently consists
of eight vessels, is a key component of shipping along the Northern Sea Route.
Alexey Likhachev touched on the topic of ensuring safe navigation along the Northern Sea Route and said: “We have established a unified platform for the NSR digital services. This means year-round dispatching and monitoring of all maritime shipping on the NSR using domestic software. This allows us to plan routes for vessels and manage navigation along the NSR, as well as collect and process data on hydro-meteorological and ice conditions.”
The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is the shortest shipping route connecting the western part of Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region. This is a national transport artery of Russia with a long history of development. In accordance with the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, in 2025, the country celebrates the 500th anniversary of Russia's development of the Northern Sea Route, which began in 1525, when the Russian diplomat Dmitry Gerasimov first put forward the idea of practically using the NSR to connect Europe and Asia.
