With a shortfall in transport capacity to bring seafood production from the Russian Far East to European Russia, fishing companies Dobroflot and Norebo have pioneered shipping goods westwards using the Northern Sea Route. Now additional capacity is being brought in with nuclear-powered container carrier Sevmorput.
The project to use this unique vessel, the world’s only nuclear-powered cargo vessel, has been in preparation for some time by Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries and atomic agency Rosatom. Sevmorput can carry around 8500 tonnes of cargo and is expected to take 20 days to reach St Petersburg from Petropavlovsk-Kamachatka, which entails taking a route along the Norwegian coast and through the Baltic.
‘This is the shortest path connecting the Far East and the European part of Russia. Carrying seafood along the Northern Sea Route will reduce the time and cost of transport, which will positively affect both the quality and price of fish products on the retail counter,’ said Petr Savchuk, deputy head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries.
Two voyages are planned for 2019 and the possibility of a regular scheduled service between the Far East and north-western Russia is being examined.
‘We have been talking for several years about the use of the Northern Sea Route,’ said Vladimir Ilyushin, governor of the Kamchatka Territory.
‘This trial trip provides hope that this will become a regular schedule. This will give an incentive for the development of port infrastructure and business. Today, a lot of effort is being made by the state and business to make this line work. A regular cargo flow along the Northern Sea Route through Kamchatka to the Asia-Pacific region will bring economic benefits to all concerned.’
The 260 metre container vessel Nuclear-powered freighter brings fish to Europe has had a chequered history, built in 1988. It has been laid up at various times and plans to scrap it were cancelled to bring it back into service. Following maintenance, Sevmorput undertook sea trials in 2015 and has been used to deliver goods to Arctic regions.
As part of the preparations, port infrastructure is being upgraded in Kamchatka and at Arkhangelsk.
‘The arrival of the vessel took place thanks to the investment programme implemented by the Norebo group of companies with the support of the Government of the Kamchatka Territory and the Russian Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic,’ said Vladimir Walter, General Director of Seroglazka Terminal LLC, part of the Norebo fishing group.
‘Negotiations are underway to organise the regular operation of a carrier on this route in 2020,’ he said, commenting that work on developing a logistics facility in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka began in 2015, and so far two gantry cranes and a cold store have been put into operations. Large scale renovation of berths and dredging are scheduled for next year.
