By Nadezhda Malysheva
(portnews.ru) - The economic well-being of the Russian Arctic areas, their life and security largely depend on the solution of problems in shipbuilding, ship repairing and the efficient use of the Northern Sea Route (NSR). Valery Semyonov, a member of the Federation Council Committee for Federal Structure, Regional Policy, Local Self-Government and Affairs of the North, expressed this opinion in his interview with PortNews magazine.
How is the life of northerners connected with shipbuilding and, moreover, ship repairing?
All areas of activity and life of people living in the severe climate of the Far North, the Arctic, need material and technical support, and this applies to almost 70% of the Russia’s territory. Ensuring the life of such a vast area, its security - from a food to environmental one - is impossible without the availability of an appropriate marine fleet and capacities for its repairing. That is why the issues of shipbuilding, ship repairing and the efficient use of the Northern Sea Route are so important for the Arctic and the country as a whole.
But what about airplanes?
In the Far North, airplanes are certainly important but in combination with the sea and river transport. Let me give you a real example from my life when I was the first deputy head of Norilsk in the late 1990s. Just imagine a situation when transport accessibility in winter is only by air, and you have aviation fuel just for a week. This is the situation that happened to us. The NSR was not working, the icebreaker fleet practically stopped due to high rates ... It was a terrible situation, a scandal. For a month, we could not resolve the problem of delivering fuel along the Northern Sea Route for our aircraft.
Was the decision to work without icebreakers taken after this incident?
Various options were considered, including the use of submarines. As a result, this revolutionary decision was made - to ensure the delivery of goods without icebreakers. In a relatively short period of time, by the beginning of 2009, the Norilsk Nickel implemented a program to form its own fleet of reinforced ice class, capable of operating in the Arctic all year round with minimal use of icebreakers.
Firstly, this helped the company get economic advantages due to an independent tariff policy for cargo transportation. Secondly, this made it possible to maintain navigation along the NSR, albeit on a short stretch - between Arkhangelsk and Dudinka.
Later on, Norilsk Nickel again returned to using icebreakers by signing an agreement on co-financing their construction. That is, it happens that we may be angry with someone, we disagree, but the time comes and all parties come to an agreement. The more reliable partners and associates are, the more efficient the business is and the better the region lives, especially in such a difficult climate.
For example, the Yenisei River Shipping Company, a structure of the Norilsk Nickel, works now for the benefit of the city of Norilsk, for Taimyr. It delivers goods under the ‘supply of goods to northern Russia’ program and works for the entire Krasnoyarsk Territory. However, there are still difficulties.
What are they exactly?
The difficulty is with the necessary fleet. The shipping company solves the problem with barges on its own. In particular, in 2021, the Yenisei River Shipping Company ordered the construction of 10 sea barges from the Samus Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Plant (Tomsk Region). But there is a real problem with modern pusher tractors, they are not available at all.
This is a real headache. Therefore, our Committee and the Committee on the Economy of the Federation Council take joint efforts in solving this problem. We are a committee that cares about everything and solves a wide range of problems.
In your opinion, what tasks should be focused on now?
The main thing is to take a comprehensive approach to solving the problem and learn from mistakes. When we started shipbuilding, we overlooked the issues related to the maintenance and repair of the ships, as a result, up to 70% of ships were repaired abroad. Today, the Western sanctions were imposed on us, and many of our long-term partners have simply turned their backs on us. As a result, problems arose, including with the repair of our ships.
You can't focus on one thing. Today, we really need to take the shipbuilding industry very seriously so that for the most part, we could provide ourselves with the necessary ship units, blocks and parts for shipbuilding and ship repairing. It is necessary to develop and implement state support measures aimed at creating conditions for the construction of new docks and re-equipment of our enterprises so that they could fulfill orders to build ships that are in demand not only with domestic, but also with Western, Asian and Eastern transport companies.
In addition, the accumulated problems with the delivery of goods within the framework of the deliveries of goods to the Northern Territories should be urgently resolved. Of the 3 million tons of cargo that we import annually, about 30% are delivered by river and using the NSR.
Today, especially many difficulties arise with the delivery of goods by river. The necessary infrastructure is either outdated or is just unavailable. The Federation Council Committee for the Federal Structure, Regional Policy, Local Self-Government and Affairs of the North believes that these issues should be resolved not at the regional, but at the federal level. If these rivers are considered today to be federal ones, the Federation should deal with these issues. That is, channel dredging is required as well as making good approaches, berths so that it was not required to take the cargo by motor boats to the shore, 300 meters away from a ship that is at the channel entrance. This issue must be addressed both from the point of view of economic feasibility and security.
When modern ships and their reliable repair are provided, as well as an appropriate safe infrastructure - the quality of life of people living in remote areas, especially in the northern region, will become better.
