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Northern Sea Route’s rescue fleet to receive 16 vessels before 2024, says minister

According to Alexey Chekunov, the Northern Sea Route’s development envisages 54 vessels

MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. New 16 vessels for the Arctic emergency rescue fleet at the Northern Sea Route (NSR) will be built before 2024, Minister for Development of the Far East and Arctic Alexey Chekunov said on Tuesday.

"We need to build up the Arctic emergency and rescue fleet to improve the navigation safety and to respond to oil spills. <…> Before 2024, another 16 [vessels] will be built," he told a meeting at the Federation Council, devoted to strategic approaches to the Northern Sea Route’s development.

According to the minister, the Northern Sea Route’s development envisages 54 vessels. "Nowadays, eight vessels are guarding NRS waters."

The Northern Sea Route is a shipping route and the main sea line in the Russian Arctic sector. It stretches along northern coasts of Russia across the seas of the Arctic Ocean (Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi and Bering seas). The route consolidates European and Far Eastern ports of Russia and navigable river mouths in Siberia into a single transport system. The route’s length is 5,600 km from the Kara Strait to the Providence Bay.