ARKHANGELSK, January 30. /TASS/. The financially supported eastbound transportation from the Arkhangelsk port will draw to the North a certain amount of cargo, which presently is transported by rail, and thus will build up the Northern Sea Route's traffic, the Arkhangelsk Region's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development, Industry and Science Viktor Ikonnikov told TASS.
This approach is most important for the forestry industrial complex, he added.
"For the purpose to redirect the forestry industrial complex's certain traffic flow from the Eastern railroads to the Northern Sea Route and to ensure the export of estimated cargo volumes from timber enterprises, it is necessary: to support financially the direct coastal transportation via the port of Arkhangelsk to the Far Eastern regions; to consider a financial support for overseas transportation of the forestry industry's products from the port of Arkhangelsk to ports of the Asia-Pacific Region, first of all to Shanghai," the expert said.
Cargos can be sent along the Northern Sea Route via Arkhangelsk from the Arkhangelsk and Vologda, Karelia, Komi, and Perm Regions. The forestry industry enterprises, which presently are shipping cargo to China in containers by rail, have been considering the option to send loaded containers from the port of Arkhangelsk to the port of Shanghai (China). Currently, this route is not subsidized by the state, and the costs of shipments by sea are higher than by rail. At the same time, the traffic along the Baikal-Amur and the Trans-Siberian railways remains very busy, and the railways are struggling to cope with the growing traffic.
Earlier, the Arkhangelsk Region's authorities initiated to have the Arkhangelsk port serve coastal transportation to the Far East. Another initiative is to expand specifications of vessels for state-supported shipments. In March 2022, the Russian Federation's government introduced additional incentives for companies engaged in container shipping along the Northern Sea Route. However, only the Sevmorput nuclear-powered cargo ship complies with the announced requirements.
The Arkhangelsk transport hub is a multi-profile year-round navigation port with 12 universal and specialized terminals, 10 ship-owning companies, and more than 350 vessels, 20 cargo handling companies.