Western Sanctions Mean Northern Sea Route Carried Only Half the Cargo This Year Putin had Called For, Rosatom Chief Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Dec. 7 – The Northern Sea Route carried only 38 to 40 million tons of cargo this year and not the 80 million Vladimir Putin had called for, largely the result of the impact of Western sanctions on the ability of Russia to build enough icebreakers and ice-capable ships to handle larger amounts, according to Aleksey Likhachyov, head of Rosatom.
    He and other Rosatom officials say that Russia needs at least 13 icebreakers to handle the ice, not the ten it currently has operating to keep the NSR operational, and as many as 90 ice-capable ships, far from than it has or can build soon because of the sanctions regime (nakanune.ru/articles/122915/).
    Russian experts were also dismissive that global warming will soon leave the Arctic ice-free especially in the eastern portions of the NSR and said that Russia must devote more effort to building icebreakers and ice-capable ships if it is to meet Putin’s targets. Given sanctions, Russian yards must develop whole new sectors of construction if they are to do that.