ST. PETERSBURG, May 12. /TASS/. The weight of freight, transported by the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in January-April, 2020, is 10.05 million tonnes, the marine and river fleet authority, Rosmorrechflot, said in a statement on Instagram.

Earlier, NSR’s representative Nikolai Monko told TASS that the growth of freight transportation would be moderate in 2020.

"Over January-April, 10.05 million tonnes were transported, which means a 4.5% growth year-on-year," the authority said.

The NSR’s Administration reported that 31.5 million tonnes were transported in 2019, demonstrating a growth by 56.7% year-on-year (21.1 million tonnes were transported in 2018). Transit carriages in 2019 rose by almost 41.9% to 697,200 tonnes (491,300 tonnes in 2018). In 2019, the most used ports were Sabetta (20.5 million tonnes), Dudinka (1.5 million tonnes) and the terminal near Kamenny Cape on the Yamal Peninsula (7.7 million tonnes).

The Northern Sea Route is the main marine shipping route in Arctic Russia. It passes along Russian northern shores across Arctic seas. The route integrates European and Far Eastern ports of Russia and navigable river outlets into a single transport system. Its length is 5,600 km from the Kara Strait to Providence Bay.

On May 7, the Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic presented to the government a draft strategy for the Arctic’s development until 2025. According to the document, the freight turnover by the Northern Sea Route would be on the rise. While in 2018 it was 20.1 million tonnes, by 2024 it will amount to 80 million tonnes, by 2030 — to 120 million tonnes and by 2035 — to 160 million tonnes. Transit shipment will make 10 million tonnes in 2035.