All news

Transporting goods along Northern Sea Route should be cheaper than Suez Canal — deputy PM

Yury Trutnev stressed that if a separate state support program is required to achieve this goal, "then this must be done"

MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. Transportation of goods along the Northern Sea Route should not be more expensive, but in the long term cheaper than along the Suez Canal, Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy in the Far East Yury Trutnev told reporters on Wednesday.

"I asked the Ministry for the Development of the Far East, the Ministry of Transport and Rosatom to conduct an economic analysis together. We must make sure that the transportation of goods along the Northern Sea Route is not more expensive, but even better - cheaper than along the Suez Canal," Trutnev said.

He stressed that if a separate state support program is required to achieve this goal, "then this must be done".

The Suez Canal carries 12% of the world's cargo traffic and is also one of the busiest waterways for oil tanker shipments worldwide, 8% of ships carrying liquefied gas pass through it. In total, 19,000 ships per year pass the canal, or more than 50 per day.

The Northern Sea Route is a shipping route, the main sea communication in the Russian Arctic. It runs along the northern shores of Russia along the seas of the Arctic Ocean. The Northern Sea Route connects the European and Far Eastern ports of Russia, as well as navigable Siberian rivers into a single transport system. The length of the path is 5,600 km from the Kara Gates Strait to Provideniya Bay.