DUBAI global port operator DP World has signed an agreement with Russian authorities to play and a role in the development in the Northern Sea Route (NSR) over Russia
DUBAI global port operator DP World has signed an agreement with Russian authorities to play and a role in the development in the Northern Sea Route (NSR) over Russia. Global warming believers, Fitch ratings among them, say more ship traffic will flow through the Arctic Ocean as the ice melts. But Maersk ran a 3,596-TEU Baltic feeder from Vladivostok to St Petersburg last summer, and said it had have no plans to do it again.
Nonetheless, DP World signed a deal in St Petersburg with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Rosatom and Norilsk Nickel to 'jointly implement a project for the integrated development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR).
'We see enormous potential in NSR and look forward to creating new successes with our partners,' said DP World chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
'We aim to increase the volume of freight traffic through the NSR and the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. To do this, we'll need to design and construct an additional ice-class fleet and icebreakers, as well as port infrastructure,' he said.
Parties will have to develop a strategy to increase the efficiency of the use of the NSR and determine ways to develop traffic, DP World said in the announcement, reported American Shipper.
The focus will be on the linear transportation of containers and bulk cargo and the study will try to determine the amount of funding for the design and construction of an additional ice-class fleet, icebreakers and port infrastructure.
The parties agreed to create a working group to conduct an analysis and prepare a feasibility study for the project within six months. A decision on the next stage of the project will be made subject to completion of the analysis and feasibility study, DP World said.
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