Norilsk Nickel is implementing a program aimed at increasing cargo volumes to be transported along the Northern Sea Route

Norilsk Nickel is implementing a program aimed at increasing cargo volumes to be transported along the Northern Sea Route (NSR), although with a slight delay, Andrey Grachyov, Vice President for Federal and Regional Programs of MMC Norilsk Nickel, said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
“In 2022, we signed a cooperation agreement with the Ministry for Development of Far East and the Rosatom company, in which we indicated the expected volumes of cargo traffic along the NSR until 2030. Now, this agreement is under implementation, although with a slight delay,” he said.
According to Grachyov, the Nornickel company transported 1.5 mn tons of cargo in 2020 and more than 2 mn tons in 2022. “So, we increased the volume by 40%,” he added.
Speaking about the prospects, Grachyov noted that the Norilsk Nickel company would need to replace outdated icebreakers that would be phased out of service in the long term. ‘Currently, we use our own fleet consisting of 6 icebreakers,” he said.
In October 2022, the Russian companies, including Norilsk Nickel, entered into agreements with the Russian Ministry for Development of Far East and the Rosatom company on the annual volume of cargo to be transported along the Northern Sea Route until 2030.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak said earlier that Norilsk Nickel plans to export 2.3 mn tons of goods from its enterprises via the Northern Sea Route in 2023, and to increase cargo volumes to 2.4 mn tons in 2024.