Page 32 - Журнал Sozvezdye Review - «СОЗВЕЗДИЕ» #41

Cargo base The list of products that are critical to Arctic proj- nal for offloading lead-zinc concentrate. To facilitate
ects and had previously been imported, is expected transit container traffic, two transport and logistics
The NSR Development Plan has its main focus on to be finalized within the first six months of 2023, hubs, Vostochny and Zapadny, will be set up in Vlad-
the formation of cargo base. Among the promising following which relevant orders with be placed with ivostok and Murmansk before 2026.
projects expected to contribute to the cargo traffic the domestic industries. This spring will see comple- In parallel with efforts to enhance port infrastruc-
along the Northern Sea Route are the mining projects tion of the ice-reinforced cargo carriers construction ture, steps will be taken to expand the railway net-
run by Norilsk Nickel MMC, Severnaya Zvezda and program with timeline up to 2035. Alongside this, the work. The Northern Latitudinal Railway is scheduled
Baim Mining Company; Novatek’s LNG projects; and Plan identifies the need for more ships for LNG pro- for commissioning in late 2028, and there will be rail
the projects operated by Gazprom Neft. The largest of ducing projects, Vostok Oil, Severnaya Zvezda, the connection to the terminals in Murmansk.
them is called Vostok Oil and is implemented by Ros- mining project of Baim Group, as well as for supply
neft. As stated in the Plan, Vostok Oil is expected to vessels to assist in Northern Supply Haul and nine Port of Arkhangelsk
represent, by 2030, 100 million tons in cargo traffic, container ships to support transit traffic.
equivalent to almost fifty percent. Other significant The period until 2030 will see construction of five Arkhangelsk’s role in the development of the
contributors include deliveries under Northern Sup- general-purpose nuclear-powered icebreakers (Project Northern Sea Route has been pointed out many times.
ply Haul, support cargoes and transit cargoes – these 22220) and the first-in-class icebreaker Leader (Proj- This port serves as a key transshipment point for car-
will account for 34 million tons in 2030 and 53.6 mil- ect 10510). It is planned to build within this timeline goes bound for the Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG 2, Yamal-
lion in 2035. 47 guard and rescue ships and their basing sites in Nenets Okrug, Taimyr, Norilsk Industrial District, and
For the purposes of Northern Supply Haul, the Pevek, Dixon and Tiksi. Chukotka. The program to establish here the Arkhan-
Plan seeks to establish a single logistics operator. Outlined as key infrastructure projects are Utren- gelsk Transport Hub is expected to be approved for
Coastal and international carriages will be managed ny LNG Terminal in the port of Sabetta; Bukhta Sever funding this year. Once in place, it will consolidate
by container transport operator. Transit container Terminal for servicing the project Vostok Oil; Yenisei Arkhangelsk’s position as one of the key Arctic ports.
transportation is scheduled to be piloted in 2025– Terminal for Syradasay coal deposit; Nagleinyn Cape In its tentative version, the program provides for mod- ny Island, Novaya Zemlya). In terms of the approved
2027, by which time the proposals for container fleet Terminal in the port of Pevek; LNG terminals in Ka- ernization of the existing post facilities; construction reserves, Pavlovsky holds 2.5 million tons of zinc,
development and infrastructure improvements will mchatka and Murmansk; coal and bulk cargo termi- of general-purpose and specialized terminals for han- 549,000 tons of lead and 1,200 tons of silver. To en-
have been submitted. nals in Murmansk; and the Novaya Zemlya Termi- dling various types of cargo, including containerized able their shipment right from the processing site, the
ones; and construction of a deep-water area with the Novaya Zemlya is going to receive a specialized sea
designed capacity of 38 million tons per year. terminal. The construction materials for this project
The year 2022 saw the start of a subsidy program are going to be shipped via Arkhangelsk.
aiming to support the Arctic coastal transportation
between St. Petersburg, Murmansk and the port ter-
minals in the Far East. The program forms part of the Alexey Alsufiev, Senior Assistant to Arkhangelsk
NSR Development Plan and has recently been applied Governor – Chairman of Arkhangelsk Government:
by Arkhangelsk Government. In Arkhangelsk’s to- The Arkhangelsk Transport Hub plays a key role
tal cargo turnover (5.3 million tons), coastal shipping in the transport system of the Northern Sea Route –
currently represents about fifty percent. and all the more so given the recent geopolitical and
Concurrently, the government’s experts have cal- economic shift. This port can be given a new impetus
culated that Arkhangelsk port’s existing facilities and evolve into new status.
have capacity for 12 million tons of cargo annually. For one reason, there has been a change in the
The prospects of increased throughput depend on the transshipment market conditions for the Baltic ports –
success of larger infrastructure projects – the deep- Arkhangelsk’s main competitors. Expert estimates
water port area, which we mentioned earlier, the Bel- show that the recently imposed embargoes, sanctions,
komur Railway (Arkhangelsk – Syktyvkar – Perm), disrupted supply chains, container carriers’ with-
and international transport corridors. These projects drawal from Russia, and related geopolitical factors
have had their start dates shifted multiple times and, have put at risk 62% of Russian ports’ export/import
given today’s situation, it’s uncertain if they will start cargo turnover and 35% of foreign trade. Secondly, in
at all. In making forecasts for Arkhangelsk Transport the event the conflict escalates with NATO countries,
Hub’s cargo base, one should probably consider fac- the Baltic ports, given their geographical location, can
tors that are more realistic. become blocked. This can give Arkhangelsk a tangible
Currently, one possible source of increase in advantage over other ports.
the port’s transshipment volume is timber industry The Arkhangelsk Transport Hub project is on the
and pulp and paper mills. In Russia’s total output of list of the Northern Sea Route Development Plan and
wood-based products, Arkhangelsk accounts for one implies improvements not only to the port itself, but
third of pulp and cardboard, for about 8% of sawn also railways, motor roads and bridges. Its concept
timber, and for 11% of paper. A significant part of was developed by the Arkhangelsk government in co-
these products is exported by rail. In 2022, when ex- operation with the Russian Ministry of Transport and
ports started to be re-oriented to the East, the rail is currently being coordinated with relevant authori-
network became heavily overloaded: about 50% of the ties and organizations. We hope it will soon be ap-
export deliveries from Arkhangelsk reach their des- proved for federal funding and all our major infra-
tinations late, resulting in penalties and losses. One structure projects will be given a go.
viable alternative to rail is sea. According to the es- Once the East-bound exports start to be sustain-
timates of the Arkhangelsk government, the port’s ably transported via the Northern Sea Route, we ex-
turnover could well be at least one million tons more, pect Arkhangelsk port’s capacity to reach a four-fold
if there were regular connection via the Northern Sea increase by 2040. A major portion in the East-bound
Route and specialized ships to carry timber indus- exports will be timber. And we hear the local timber
tries’ exports. industries expressing their readiness to reorient their
Another possible contributor to cargo base is fish produce to the Northern Sea Route, provided there SOZVEZDYE #41
produce from the Russian Far East. Transporting it by are decent multimodal carriage tariffs.
rail from Vladivostok to central Russia takes between Arkhangelsk Oblast is known as the center of
30 and 45 days, whereas if shipped via the Northern Arctic shipbuilding and ship repair. Our largest in- перспективы
Sea Route, the fish would be there in less than two dustries – Sevmash, Zvyozdochka and Arktika – are
weeks. Arkhangelsk offers a convenient location for members of the United Shipbuilding Corporation. outlook
transshipping fish for further delivery to Moscow and They have the capacity and competency to deliver
St. Petersburg: these destinations are 24 hours away. some of the most sophisticated projects. While having
Mining is a more export-led industry. Scheduled their manufacturing facilities tailored to the needs
for commissioning in 2027 is mining and processing of state defense, these industries offer a vast expe-
facility at Pavlovsky lead-zinc-silver deposit (Yuzh- rience in high-tech civil engineering as suppliers of 31