Other participants in the meeting included: Sergey Frank, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sovcomflot; Leonid Mikhelson, Chairman of the Management Board of NOVATEK; Evgeny Ambrosov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of NOVATEK; Vyacheslav Ruksha, Deputy Director General of Rosatom, and Vladimir Panov, Special Representative for the Arctic development at Rosatom.During the meeting, Yury Trutnev received reports via a video conference link from Sergey Gen, Master of the LNG carrier, and Dmitry Lobusov, Master of the nuclear icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy, before wishing the crews of both vessels a safe journey.The LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie is currently completing her experimental round trip voyage. For the first time in history, a large-capacity cargo vessel is transiting the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in February. Traditionally, transit navigation along this segment of the NSR ends in November and only resumes again in July.Christophe de Margerie began her voyage on 5 January 2021 at the port of Sabetta. The LNG carrier safely completed her passage eastward along the Northern Sea Route in 11 days, while navigating the entire length of the NSR without icebreaker assistance.After discharging her cargo at the port of Jiangsu in China on 27 January, the vessel sailed back towards Sabetta, and on 7 February, upon reaching the eastern end of the Northern Sea Route, Cape Dezhnev, met the icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy, which then escorted her back to Sabetta. At the time of the report, Christophe de Margerie and her nuclear icebreaker escort were approaching the Vilkitsky Strait in the Laptev Sea.The convoy is scheduled to arrive at the port of Sabetta (the Gulf of Ob in the Kara Sea) on 19 January 2021.Yury Trutnev, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, was quoted as saying:“The Northern Sea Route is a transportation route of major importance for Russia. Using NSR makes it possible to cut the travel time from Europe to Asia by sea by more than a third. In 2020, almost 33 million tonnes of cargo were transported along the Northern Sea Route, including over 18 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas. In the last five years, the cargo traffic along the NSR has grown almost fivefold, but in fact, the route can handle a lot more than that. In accordance with a decree issued by the President of the Russian Federation, the cargo traffic along the Northern Sea route should increase to 80 million tonnes per year by 2024. One way that target can be achieved is by expanding the period of Arctic navigation.”
Source: en.portnews.ru (Click for further of the article)
Source: en.portnews.ru (Click for further of the article)