March 3 2023
The agencies were instructed to submit a report to the government by March 10 on the redirection of transportation of goods exported to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region (APR) to the Northern Sea Route in 2023-2024. This instruction is contained in the Minutes of the State Commission for the Arctic of February 10, presided by Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev. It was reported to Interfax by a source familiar with the text of the protocol prepared following the meeting of the State Commission.
The Ministry for the Development of the Far East and Arctic (MDFEA), together with “Rosatom”, MoT, MoF and the authorities of the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions, were instructed to design the plan, taking into account the transportation of goods from the seaports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk and the necessary state support measures to ensure the flow of goods, the source said.
In addition, MDFEA and “Rosatom” together with principal shippers, were instructed to submit proposals by March 31 on additional measures to ensure the achievement of the established KPIs for NSR cargo traffic in 2024, including in terms of domestic, export-import and transit traffic.
MoF together with MDFEA, “Rosatom” and VEB.RF, by March 1, must develop and submit for approval to the government a financial and economic model for the development of the NSR, providing for the plans of the principal shippers and the construction of icebreakers necessary to achieve target indicators of cargo turnover along the NSR.
Earlier, Mr. Trutnev who oversees the Arctic, noted: “The implementation of the NSR development plan is a very big job and very capacious in terms of money. Periodically, financing and timing issues arise at different nodes. We agreed that MoF, MDFEA, “Rosatom” and VEB.DV will create a unified NSR financial and economic model. I do not rule out that we will have to find new solutions in terms of financing these activities so that there is no shortage of financial resources anywhere. Maybe these are loans – we need to assess,” he said. According to him, the NSR financial model will apply to all projects: both those implemented by the state and private ones.
The source specified that the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) and “Rosatom”, with the participation of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) and “Transmashholding” (TMH), must submit proposals by March 14 to create domestic high-power engines for Arctic-class ships. At the same time, MIT, MDFEA, the Ministry of Economic Development and MoF were instructed to define the creation of a specialized fund for the purpose of buying out Arctic-class ships for operation in the NSR waterways.
According to the source, the State Commission also discussed the readiness of the infrastructure of the Ob-Irtysh and Yenisei river basins to ensure the export transportation of coal, lumber, grain products. The relevant departments, “Russian Railways”, “Rosatom” and the governor of the Omsk region Alexander Burkov were instructed to submit proposals to the government on the volume of transportation of these goods via the NSR before July 1.
Also, “Rosatom”, MoT, MDFEA and “Russian Railways” should elaborate the issue of creating a cargo port in the village of Ust-Kara (Nenets Autonomous District) to serve the NSR with the construction of the Vorkuta – Ust-Kara railway line. A report on this issue must be submitted to the government by March 10.