The Northern Sea Route. Ports of the Northern Sea Route. The development, importance and development of the Northern Sea Route

Russia owns significant marine areas in the Arctic. Through these expanses lies the Northern Sea Route (SMP) - a unique navigable highway with an interesting history and very great prospects.

What is famous for the sea route that goes through the North

The Northern Sea Route is considered the main and most important highway of Russian navigation in the Arctic zone. It goes along the seas, which flow into the Arctic Ocean. This sea line connects the ports located in the European and Far Eastern parts of Russia. The beginning of the Northern Sea Route is in the Kara Gate. The highway ends in the Bay of Providence. The total length of the Northern Sea Route is about 5600 km, for the first time all this distance was spent by the Swedish navigational expedition, headed by Nordenskiöld, in 1878-79.

The Northern Sea Route was actively used by Soviet seafarers in the 1940s and 1980s. In the 70s icebreakers began to walk along this highway. After the collapse of the USSR, foreign ships began to appear here often. The largest ports of the Northern Sea Route are in Igarka, Dixon, Tiksi, Dudinka, Pevek and Providence. Navigation is managed by the Russian Maritime Transport Department (in the USSR it was done by Glavsevmorput, and then by the Ministry of Moraflot).

Main ports

The northern sea route begins in the Barents Sea. Then it continues in the waters of other seas - Kara, Laptev, as well as East Siberian and Chukchi. In each of the water areas are the key ports of the Northern Sea Route. First it is Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, east of Dixon, in the area of the Yenisei Gulf, ships pass through Dudinka and Igarka, entering the Laptev Sea through Nordvik, then Tiksi (Delta Lena), Ambarchik (the mouth of the Kolyma), and Pevek and the port in Providenia.

The listed objects of the shipping infrastructure, which are located at the mouth of large rivers, serve as transshipment points for cargo ships. The Northern Sea Route is a highway through which timber, machinery products, coal, building materials, food products, furs are transported. Ports on the Northern Sea Route are adapted to receive large icebreakers.

Problems of the development of the NSR

Experts believe that modernizing the infrastructure of the Russian Arctic will require significant financial and labor inputs. It will be necessary to improve the work of the services on hydrography and meteorology, to establish an air reconnaissance system for ice traffic, to create state structures responsible for environmental control. It is necessary to increase the resources of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, to improve the infrastructure of ports.

In addition, analysts believe, there are many unresolved issues regarding the regulatory framework governing the movement of ships along the routes of the Northern Sea Route. In many respects this aspect will determine the attractiveness of the highway for foreign investors - not only in the field of freight traffic as such, but also in adjacent segments. Such as, for example, arctic tourism. There are many who wish to travel to the North Pole, and companies from Russia can become the world's largest suppliers of such tourist services.

Interest from other countries

According to some experts, not only Russia, but also a number of other countries consider the development of the Northern Sea Route to be its prerogative. First of all, we are talking about the major powers of the Asia-Pacific region - China and India. Interest is shown also by small, but influential states - such as Singapore. A number of Russian officials believe that legislative norms governing the movement of maritime transport for foreign shipping companies are needed.

The situation, experts believe, can be complicated by the US position, which does not consider that the key areas of the Northern Sea Route are exclusively in Russian jurisdiction. Moreover, there is no common opinion on the issues of legal regulation of the highway even in Russia. But there are lawyers who are sure that the Russian Federation has every right to manage the passage of ships along the Northern Sea Route thanks to the norms of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea established in 1982.

About the administration of the NSR

The main state body that is called upon to regulate the procedure for navigation in the Northern Sea Route is the Administration of the Northern Sea Route, the central office of which is located in Moscow. According to the norms of Russian laws, shipping in the water area of this highway is carried out in a permissive manner. Owners of vessels must apply in advance for the use of the waters of the NSR. The Administration of the Northern Sea Route examines it and makes a decision to issue a permit or refuse it. It is interesting that the application procedure is quite modern: documents can be sent electronically, and moreover in English, which is very convenient for foreign seafarers. The SMP administration reviews the application for up to 10 business days and places its response (decision on whether to issue or not to issue a permit) on the official website.

Shipping rules

The Northern Sea Route of Russia is a highway where there are rules for navigation defined by the legislation of the Russian Federation. Very many requirements are of a reporting nature. For example, if a vessel follows the NSR and crosses the Western (Eastern) border, then the ship's captain must send the key information about his ship to the Administration of the Northern Sea Route once a day.

Among them - the geographical coordinates of the ship, the planned time in the waters of the NSR, the exact rate, speed, as well as information on the presence of ice along the route of the ship. The captain of the ship undertakes to immediately notify the Administration of the Northern Sea Route on the sources of pollution found. Those types of vessels that can not move in the conditions of dense ice concentration must coordinate their actions with the icebreaker fleet and remain in constant communication with the administration of the NSR so that, if necessary, follow the instructions for further movement.

The NSR

Some navigators prefer not to use such a term as the Northern Sea Route route, replacing it with the term "area". The scale of the NSR, therefore, extends within the territorial waters with a latitude of 12 miles and the free economic zone of vessels 200 miles long. The area of the NSR is from the Kara Gates to the Bering Strait.

The Northern Sea Route, according to a number of seafarers, is a complex of several navigable routes. Their specific length is not constant and depends mainly on seasonal changes in the thickness and location of the Arctic ice. The Northern Sea Route is more than 70 large ports and points. There are several regions of Russia at once (Chukotka, the sea coast of Yakutia and adjacent regions) for which the SMP is the only highway linking them to the rest of the country.

Nuclear icebreakers on the NSR

Due to geographical and climatic features, the movement of ships along the Northern Sea Route is impossible without the participation of the icebreaker fleet. Now, six nuclear icebreakers are navigating through the NSR. This fleet ensures the stability of the functioning of the entire sea highway and solves problems related to facilitating access to the regions of the Far North of Russia, as well as to the Arctic shelf. According to some experts, the icebreaker fleet of the Russian Federation is the guarantor of the country's national security. As such, the icebreaker wiring of ships runs for 8,000 miles - from Murmansk to Vladivostok. Actually, the two largest companies that carry out shipping in the NSR are registered in these two cities. According to some experts, Russia's icebreaker fleet needs to be increased. This will increase the economic profitability of the highway, create new jobs in the regions of the NSR, improve the situation with the migration of the population from the North.

Economic prospects

According to some experts, the NSR should become a competing highway for the Suez Canal and other major world marine infrastructure facilities. According to some analysts, the maximum throughput of the NSR is about 50 million tons of cargo per year. The seafarers themselves believe that the NSR will be increasingly demanded every year - especially against the backdrop of growing activity of oil and gas companies in the Yamal and Arctic regions.

Important role in the effective use of the mainline, according to seafarers, should be played by private investors. The dynamics is quite optimistic: if in 2010 the SMP passed only 4 large vessels, then in 2011 - 34, and in 2012 - 46. Experts believe that there is every reason to expect further growth of shipping companies in the waters of the NSR - Both Russian and foreign.

The role of the state

According to a number of analysts, until the beginning of the 2000s, Russia has had very little influence on the development of the Arctic as a whole and the Northern Sea Route in particular. However, in recent years the state has visibly intensified in these areas. New laws began to appear, issues that are relevant for the development of the regions adjacent to the NSR were raised. These trends, experts believe, are largely related to Russia's great historical role in the Arctic, the desire of the state to regain its former influence in the region. In 2008, the President signed the most important document - "The Basics of Russia's State Policy in the Arctic until 2020". The northern regions of the Russian Federation in it are designated as one of the key strategic reserves of the country's development. In some sources, SMPs are called the object of national transport communications. There is another source of law - the "Strategy for Social and Economic Development of Siberia", adopted in 2010. It notes that the effective use of SME resources is a key factor for successful economic construction in the Siberian region.

Attention from China

One of the most active foreign players in terms of navigation in the waters of the NSR is China, a partnership with which Russia in recent years has considered a particularly priority. In autumn 2013, some experts noted an interesting precedent related to the passage through the Northern Sea Route of the Yong Sheng ship. It turned out that the ship, preferring to go through the Russian mainline, won about two weeks in comparison with if it sailed through the traditional route for the Chinese seafarers in the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal. Of course, this could not but affect the further increase in the interest of shipping companies from China in using such an attractive route. Cooperation in shipping within the waters of the NSR is actively discussed between the PRC and Russia at the governmental level.

President of Russia on NSR

The interest of the state in more intensive and effective development of the Northern Sea Route can be traced on the example of the position of the President of the country. Vladimir Putin instructed the executive bodies to withdraw by 2015 turnover on the main lines of the NSR to 4 million tons. For this purpose, the process of commissioning new vessels capable of walking in ice conditions, as well as icebreakers - nuclear and diesel, will be accelerated. The President noted that it is necessary to modernize the communication infrastructure, maritime navigation, technical maintenance of ships. The global goal is to turn the highway into an attractive destination for private companies in Russia and foreign countries. On how successful the development of the SMP will be, the head of state noted, it depends how Russia will be able to further promote its own national interests in the Arctic.

Importance of SMEs for Russia

The orders of Vladimir Putin fully correspond to the general government's course on how the development of the Northern Sea Route should be carried out. The economic development of several regions of Russia depends on how successful the construction of the infrastructure of the Northern Sea Route will be, especially in the Arkhangelsk region and Siberia. According to some analysts, the importance of the Northern Sea Route for Russia is difficult to overestimate. For our country, the NSR is not only a promising offshore highway, but also an instrument that will allow solving much in the Arctic region. Therefore, even if economically the Northern Sea Route does not become as cost-effective as the authorities expect, experts believe that the government will need to continue investing in port infrastructure and building icebreakers - turning, if necessary, the NSR into a strategic springboard for national defense.