MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. Subsidized voyages along the Northern Sea Route served transportation of 25,600 tons of cargo, showing a growth by 3,500 tons year-on-year, press service of the Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic said.
"In 2024, three subsidized voyages, organized by the Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic, Rosatom and Atomflot, transported along the Northern Sea Route 25,600 tons of cargo. The third coaster voyage finished on November 21," the press service said.
The cargo was food, building materials, lumber, metal structures, machinery, cement. Special attention was paid to socially significant cargoes, where unconditional priority was given to the Northern Supplies as well as to formation and development of new logistics routes. In 2024, containers with socially significant cargo, instead of the traditional route to the east in a direct mixed railway-water connection (railway to Vladivostok, then transshipment by sea), were redirected to Arkhangelsk with further destinations - to the ports of Magadan, Korsakov, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
"The transported tons and freight units are not just cargo, they satisfy needs of people and investment projects, be those sewage treatment plants from St. Petersburg for a hotel in Kamchatka, which could not be delivered otherwise for six months, or modular buildings for glamping on the Sakhalin, where the delivery by other routes could cost small businesses three times more," the ministry added.
The program to subsidize transportation between ports of Russia's north-west and Far East began in 2022. Since then, the list of ports has grown from 4 to 14. The cargo traffic in 2023 was 22,100 tons, in 2022 - 9,300 tons.