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First Arctic rescue center to open in August

Russia plans to open the first of ten centers for search and rescue along the Northern Sea Route in Dudinka this summer.

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Russia has high hopes for the future of the northern Sea Route and invests nearly €23.4 million in development of ten centers from Murmansk in the West to Chukotka in the East.

A total of 980 persons will be working at the centers. Projects for the centers have already been prepared and construction is planned to be finished by 2015. The first one, to be established in Dudinka, will open in August 2012, Arcticuniverse writes.

Three of the centers will be located on Chukotka and Anadyr, the other seven in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Naryan-Mar, Vorkuta, Nadym, Dudinka and Tiksi. A total of 980 persons will be working at the centers.

“It is our intention to turn the Northern Sea Route into a key transport route of global importance”, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at the second International Arctic Forum in Arkhangelsk in September 2011. “We believe that NSR has a bright future as an international transport artery capable of being a competitor to more traditional routes, both when it comes to price, safety and quality”.

Cargo transport through the Northern Sea Route is expected to skyrocket in course of the next decade. While a total of 820,000 tons of goods was shipped along the Northern Sea Route in 2011, the volumes are expected to almost double in 2012.

The main challenges for a more extended use of the sea route are the need for new icebreakers and the lack of infrastructure, first of all instruments for navigation and communication and bases for search and rescue services.