During the International Arctic Forum "The Arctic — the territory of Dialogue", a session "Development of logistics centers for increasing container traffic along the Northern Sea Route" was held. The session participants discussed the issues of increasing container traffic along the Northern Sea Route, and what contribution these cargoes can make to the development of the NSR in solving domestic and foreign trade problems. During the event, Svetlana Panfilova, Deputy Governor and Minister of Arctic Development and Economy of the Murmansk Region, stressed that the region is working on the development of container transportation, and considers it as the key to the future growth of the Arctic transport corridor.
At the moment, achieving the economic advantage of the Northern Sea Route as an international transport corridor is a key task for the whole country. In addition, today the Northern Sea Route is one of the key elements of Russia's transport strategy. In 2024, the volume of cargo transportation along the NSR amounted to about 40 million tons, and in order to further increase the figures in the coming years, it is necessary to solve a number of strategic tasks related to the development of port infrastructure, logistics centers and increasing the competitiveness of the route.
The Russian Federation has a huge potential for containerization of goods and, first of all, these are traditional export cargoes, the delivery of which will create a counterflow and make transportation efficient and cost-effective.
"The global economy is growing by an average of 3%, and shipping is also growing by 2.4-2.5%. At the same time, according to experts, container transportation has the greatest growth: an annual growth of 2.7%. And in the total volume, their share shows a dynamics of 15% over 10 years. We see prospects for the development of container transportation along the NSR. For this, it is planned to build port hubs from Murmansk to Vladivostok between which ice-class vessels will sail, and then cargo will be transported by lighter—class vessels," said Gadzhimagomed Huseynov, Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic.
In the Murmansk Region, the Western Transport and Logistics Hub company is creating a new port infrastructure on the western shore of the Kola Bay, designed for container transportation. In addition, together with the Murmansk Commercial Seaport, foreign partners and large companies, the government is working on a plan to ensure the reloading of container cargo.
"Working with container cargo in the port of Murmansk has significant potential. We see that the range is expanding to traditional bulk cargoes, stevedores and cargo owners plan to increase the turnover of containers. Major players in the container transportation market are indeed showing great interest in the port of Murmansk and are ready to invest in the creation of new port facilities focused on container transshipment, including in partnership with the government. Currently, the government of the Murmansk Region is dealing with the issue of container ships of the Chinese shipping company New New Shipping Line entering the port of Murmansk," Svetlana Panfilova said.
"We absolutely understand that the Northern Sea Route has a number of advantages for transit traffic from certain geographical locations. This is the distance and, first of all, the availability of spare capacity. In other words, you don't have to wait until the infrastructure of the eastern training ground is free, you can go here. In order for this to happen, you need to work on the cost, this requires regularity, a fleet, and if there is volume, the unit cost will decrease. Starting in 2025, New New Shipping Line will continue to expand the network of the northern route, adding destination ports such as Murmansk and Pevek. We hope to cooperate with Russian logistics companies," said Ke Jin, CEO of New New Shipping Line.
In conclusion, the participants of the discussion noted that the development of transport arteries in the Arctic is impossible without the integrated development of all types of transport and the supply infrastructure of ports. Earlier, during the International Arctic Forum, the Governor of the Murmansk Region, Andrey Chibis, listed a number of necessary decisions that need to be taken to ensure the stable development of the port of Murmansk and, as a result, the Northern Sea Route as a whole.
/ Ministry of Arctic Development and Economy of the Murmansk Region /