Two or three icebreakers are required for Norilsk Nickel’s transportation system, said Vyacheslav Ruksha, Deputy General Director and director of Rosatom's Arctic Directorate.
"Nornickel is undergoing a major modernization and is preparing for an increase in ship entries to Dudinka [port]. They will soon need not one permanent icebreaker, but probably two. Although they even speak about three ships themselves," he said.
According to Ruksha, even during the difficult transition period, Nornickel continued to develop its transport system and was the first to build Arc-7 ice-class express vessels for its project.
The previously existing Arc-4 class vessels could not move independently even through the channel pierced by the icebreaker. They had to be towed by a short tug from Cape Zhelaniya to Dudinka, the speaker said.
Alex Shishlo, Editor in Chief of the European Bureau, Rough&Polished
