Draft of the Plan for the infrastructure development of the Northern Sea Route

Draft of the Plan for the infrastructure development of the Northern Sea Route until 2035, prepared by Rosatom, contains all the necessary measures and ready for signing

Vyacheslav Ruksha, the Deputy Director of Rosatom and Director for the Northern Sea Route Directorate of Rosatom, presented to the members of the State Commission for the Arctic Development the draft of the Plan for the infrastructure development of the Northern Sea Route until 2035.

“Our plan contains navigation, hydrographic support, icebreaking support, even space technologies for knowledge of ice conditions and weather conditions,” he noted. The competence of the corporation does not include the creation of a development plan for the entire Arctic area, – said Vyacheslav Ruksha.

Previously, the document was publicly discussed. For example, on May 16, 2019, there were expert hearings, where all leading experts from scientists to federal authorities, as well as journalists, were invited. Constructive comments and suggestions were received, and they have been carefully studied and taken into account.

The plan provides for the NSR development in three stages.

At the first stage in 2019-2024, the NSR development is aimed at achieving the target results defined in the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated May 7, 2017 No. 204. The necessary measures combined in the first section of the draft Plan will be implemented in the format of project management as part of the federal project “The Northern Sea Route”.

In addition to the activities of the federal project “Northern Sea Route” in 2019-2024. it is prescribed to implement organizational measures included in the relevant section of the draft Plan. The most important of them are the following:

– development and approval of geological study of raw material base for the period up to 2035, transportation of cargoes of which uses the NSR;

– development of a program of development and state support for domestic shipbuilding to provide transportation of predictable cargo base for the period up to 2035, in terms of developing projects and building modern cargo ships, including container ships, technical and service and support vessels, and dredging fleet to work on the NSR;

– organizational arrangements for the development of hydro-navigation, meteorological, rescue, communication and information infrastructure of the NSR;

– development of energy capacities that ensure functioning of infrastructure of the Northern Sea Route and coastal areas;

– personnel, medical and social security;

– preparation of a program for the development of infrastructure for the use of LNG on the NSR;

– development of a system of centralized operational-tactical management of year-round navigation via the entire NSR water area based on the creation of a single operations control center for navigation on the NSR and the organization of traffic on a regular basis within the established passage periods.

The implementation of measures by the end of 2024 should ensure the achievement of the target parameters of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 07.05.2018 No. 204 and the creation of necessary infrastructure for the further development of the Northern Sea Route and its coastal territories.

At the second stage in 2025-2030 to ensure the organization of year-round navigation via the entire NSR, based on the development of raw material extraction in the previous phase, and also taking into account the formation of a stable LNG cargo traffic of at least 20 million tons in the direction of the Asia-Pacific markets across the eastern borders of the NSR, the following activities are planned in year-round mode:

– providing necessary year-round traffic of cabotage and transit traffic via the entire NSR;

– bringing year-round navigation to the required level via the entire NSR of icebreaking fleet with a combination of state budgetary support for the purchase of icebreakers and extrabudgetary funds;

– modernization of the port and support infrastructure of the NSR to the level required for organizing year-round shipping along the entire NSR;

– completion of the formation of a single multimodal NSR operator with full functionality of services for consumers of transport services on the NSR, including the choice of preferable routes and conditions of transportation and the beginning of service providing “right on time”.

As a result of implementation of the measures of the second stage, by the end of 2030, the NSR will become a year-round transport system that meets the basic needs of consumers of transportation services along the entire NSR area.

At the third stage – in the years 2031-2035 – in order to form a competitive international and national transport corridor based on the NSR, the following measures are planned:

– systematic development of extraction, processing and year-round transportation of raw materials from all ports of the NSR;

– providing the necessary year-round traffic of cabotage shipping along the entire NSR;

– sustainable development of transit shipping, including international one, and improving the competitiveness of the international and national transport corridor with a full range of transport and logistics services;

– creation of a group of Arctic icebreaking fleets to ensure safe year-round navigation in the NSR waters;

– modernization of the port and support infrastructure of the NSR to the level required for organizing high quality year-round shipping via the entire NSR with guaranteed observance of the passage time for all zones of the NSR.

The implementation of the measures provided by the end of 2035 will allow the NSR to become the basic element of a competitive international and national maritime transport corridor capable of meeting any needs of consumers of transport and logistics services.

The state corporation Rosatom developed the Northern Sea Route Infrastructure Development Plan pursuant to federal law, which gave Rosatom responsibilities of the single infrastructure operator of the Northern Sea Route.

Recall, during a meeting of the State Commission for the Arctic Development, that held in Moscow on July 07, 2019, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation, Yurii Trutnev, noted that there should be more attention paid to the development of infrastructure, and not only construction and operation of icebreakers while preparing the draft Plan for the NSR development.

Directorate of the Northern Sea Route of Rosatom State Corporation