The Northern Sea Transit Corridor project is to create an integrated transport and logistics system for international transit sea cargo transportation on the Asia–Europe route via the Northern Sea Route (NSR). It was initiated in the Rosatom State Corporation in 2019 with the aim of creating a new offer on the international market of logistics services for the delivery of goods between Northwestern Europe and East Asia through the NSR.

Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic Alexey Chekunkov and Chairman of the Committee for Northern Economic Cooperation under the President of the Republic of Korea Park Jung Soo discussed issues of cooperation between countries in the Arctic region.
"Over the eight months of this year, the trade turnover between the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation increased by 56.8% and amounted to $19.2 billion. The volume of trade... it grew by 14%," the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia said in a statement.

According to Chekunkov, Moscow and Seoul are considering new joint projects in the field of healthcare, port infrastructure, ship repair, tourism, agriculture, science and technology, and hydrogen energy.

"Russia's chairmanship in the Arctic Council... creates additional opportunities for expanding Russian-Korean cooperation in the Arctic... We have taken the bar for the transportation of hydrocarbons — the Northern Sea Route is already a recognized international transport route for the transportation of liquefied natural gas," the ministry noted.

One of the priority goals at the moment is to make the Northern Sea Route the same route for containers.

In October, the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia and the Rosatom State Corporation prepared a project for regular transportation along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) using the Sevmorput lighter carrier.

The construction of the Northern Latitudinal Passage is expected to be completed in 2027.

"The total cost of the project is currently estimated at about 0.5 trillion rubles, construction is expected to be completed in 2027," the report said following a meeting in Salekhard led by Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov.

According to the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Control and Regulations Olga Savastyanova, the Northern Latitudinal Passage will connect the Northern Railway with the Northern Sea Route through the port of Sabetta. This will improve logistics and open up new markets for companies that are considering investing in projects for the development of mineral deposits located in Komi.

The Northern Latitudinal Passage is a 707 km long railway project that will connect the Northern and Sverdlovsk Railways and will make it possible to export cargo from new deposits in the northern regions of the Yamal Peninsula. The projected volume of transportation by the USC will amount to 23.9 million tons of cargo per year, the bulk of which will be, in particular, transportation of gas condensate. The project will also speed up the transportation of container cargo.

Rosatom State Corporation and the Lomonosov Moscow State University Marine Research Center LLC signed a cooperation agreement on Friday to conduct pilot activities for integrated research and monitoring of surface and underwater environmental safety in the waters of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, the Communications Department of Rosatom State Corporation reported.

The agreement was signed in St. Petersburg as part of the Arctic Day.

"We must look at coastal and transit Arctic shipping, the port infrastructure of the NSR at the stage of its construction and operation through the prism of environmental safety. Any of our actions in the Arctic must initially undergo a serious environmental assessment," the Communications department quotes the words of Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom State Corporation.

He noted that the development of a preliminary program for conducting a regular assessment of the environmental consequences of anthropogenic impact on the environment of the Arctic zone during the operation of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), including nuclear energy facilities, corresponds to the objectives of the implementation of the Arctic Zone Development Strategy of the Russian Federation.

"In the coming year, an international group of experts will be formed and will begin work to develop a set of monitoring and environmental measures taking into account the best world practices, launch an effective mechanism for assessing information on the environmental impact of the operation of the NSR and Scabs at the international, federal, regional and local levels.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Wednesday, October 21, made the acceptance of the world's most powerful icebreaker "Artika" and discussed with colleagues the development of the region of the same name.

The head of the Russian Cabinet of Ministers expressed confidence that the expansion and modernization of the icebreaker fleet would fully reveal the transport potential of the Northern Sea Route, reinforce the interest of international business in it and ensure Russia's primacy in the Arctic.

What difficulties will the Arktika face, in addition to the ice mass?

Valery Zhuravel, head of the Center for Arctic Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the Northern Sea Route is already functioning successfully and the main task now is to increase the volume of cargo transportation. According to the plans, by 2024 it should reach 60 million tons with the current 32 million tons.

However, Dmitry Lobusov, captain of the nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy, FSUE Atomflot, expressed concern, admitting that the obsolete infrastructure of the sea route could hinder this. He is sure that, first of all, it is necessary to modernize the ports, since so far they cannot effectively support not only the planned, but also the existing cargo and ship traffic.

A similar opinion was expressed by the former commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Vyacheslav Popov: “Indeed, it is necessary to work on the equipment of shelter sites and service points for the NSR. For example, modernize the mooring front system, improve the rescue system. Now all this is there, but the level should be higher. " According to him, the existing problems have already been identified by the authorities, but the deadlines for the implementation of relevant projects may be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Shipping news from the Northern Sea Route (NSR) for 2014 is not very encouraging on two counts. First, after a positive trend in the number of ships sailing through the NSR (4 vessels in 2010; 34 vessels in 2011; 46 vessels in 2012; and 71 vessels in 2013), the transits have reduced in 2014. According to the Russian NSR Information Office, only 31 vessels transited between Zhelania and Dezhnev along the NSR.