ST. PETERSBURG, December 11. /TASS/. Works on a project to make an Arctic ship repair cluster in the Murmansk Region will begin in 2024. The first site would be the Murmansk Fishing Port, Governor Andrey Chibis told reporters on sidelines of the Arctic: Present and Future international forum.

"Plans for one of the sites of the Murmansk Fishing Port - we really expect work on the design will begin next year, and as for the location for which S7 is responsible, we are waiting what new owners of that territory will say," the governor said.

Murmansk eyes two sites for a ship repair cluster, he continued. One of them will be the Murmansk Fishing Port, and the second one - at a former ship repair plant in downtown Murmansk. The S7 Group has undertaken to restore and upgrade the second site.

"Ship repair is a priority for us. In the past, fishing vessels were serviced outside the country - in the ports of Norway, but now this is impossible, thus there is a demand to develop ship repair in this region. We've been talking about this for a long time, but there was no demand then. I think that given the number of existing vessels, the growing numbers of vessels, the demand for ship repair will be sufficient for both projects," he added.

The region's ship repair facilities will offer services to vessels fishing in the Northern sea basin and to other vessels that will operate in the Northern Sea Route waters, the governor said.

The ship repair facilities available in the Murmansk Region are used mainly to service the military-industrial complex, since the Northern Fleet is based in the region. With the purpose to develop civil ship repair in the Arctic, the Murmansk Region suggests using a zero VAT in the industry, as well as upgrading local docks and berths that are mostly outdated.

About the forum

The 13th international forum Arctic: Today and the Future took place in St. Petersburg on December 7 and 8. The forum was organized by the interregional non-governmental organization Association of Polar Explorers with the support and participation of the Federation Council, State Duma, and the Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other relevant ministries and agencies. The MMC Norilsk Nickel was the forum’s general partner, and the VTB Bank was the event's official sponsor. TASS was the forum's general information partner.