Murmansk Oblast Governor Dmitry Dmitriyenko believes that the cargo transport through the Northern Sea Route can increase from this year’s little more than 2 million tons to some 19 million tons in 2020. This he said at the conference Transport in Russia in Moscow on Thursday, web site Nord-news.ru reports.
According to Dmitriyenko, 60 percent of the cargo on the Northern Sea Route is sent from the Port of Murmansk. This year’s sailing season opened one month earlier than before, which means that the Eastern part of the route was open for sailing for five months, while the Western part was open for as long as seven months.
The Administration of the Northern Sea Route has already received 10 applications for the use of the route in 2011, says Vladimir Mikhaylichenko, Head of the Non-commercial Partnership of the Coordination of the Northern Sea Route. Russian and foreign companies plan to send five tankers and five bulk carriers through the Arctic route.
Read also: Preparing for next year’s Northern Sea Route season
According to Mikhaylichenko, the costs of using the Northern Sea Route is 5-6 times higher than the costs of passing through the Suez Canal, and suggests to lower the fees for some time, to attract ship-owners to using the route.
Sailing from Europe to Asia along the top of Russia’s Arctic coast takes only two thirds of the time it takes to go through the Suez Canal.
