According to Nornickel’s president Vladimir Potanin, the company will actively use the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to supply copper concentrate to China for further processing.
The volume of copper concentrate supplies via this route is expected reach about 2 million tons per year. To achieve this, the company is creating additional logistics capacity and is preparing to expand the sea terminals in Dudinka and Murmansk so that they are able to handle large volumes of supplies.
“Until 2030, our main flows are oriented towards the western corridor - from Murmansk we transport products through transshipment points to Tangier, from there they go to China,” says Potanin.
“We are now using the eastern corridor in the summer, when it is free of ice. But closer to 2030 it is expected that the Eastern Corridor’s capacity will be expanded, and then we will ensure additional volume of shipments, which will result in additional savings for us,” he added.
To implement this project, Norilsk Nickel is actively cooperating with Rosatom in the icebreaker support segment, and is also planning to replenish its own fleet.
Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief of the European bureau, Rough&Polished
