New New Shipping, Rosatom to build container ships for year-round Arctic sailings
The Russian-Chinese joint venture expects the first ARC7 class container ship to be commissioned in 2027.
As Rosatom commissions more nuclear-powered icebreakers, prospects are becoming more realistic for commercial container transport from China to Europe via the Arctic.
It was last year the New New Shipping established a joint venture with Rosatom aimed to explore a future boost along the Northern Sea Route.
On Wednesday the two partners met again in a dedicated session about Arctic shipping at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Rosatom is one of the two main partners sponsoring the Economic Forum that also this year was kicked off with greetings from Dictator Putin.
“Russia consistently upholds the principles of sovereign development and respect for the cultural and civilisational identity of nations and peoples,” Putin said. Not everyone would agree to his point of view.
Venture registration in China
At stage during the St. Petersburg forum came Vyacheslav Ruksha, a long standing friend of Putin from their youth in Leningrad. Ruksha is today deputy director of the Northern Sea Route Directorate. He has a background as head the nuclear icebreaker fleet in Murmansk.
The new joint venture is registered, and under jurisdiction, in China.
Rosatom has appointed the company’s Arctic representative, Vladimir Panov, to lead the implementation of the cooperation with China. Panov is also deputy chairman of Russia’s State Commission for the Development of the Arctic.
“We are currently working on issues of placing orders for the design and construction of Arc7 ice-class container ships with a capacity of 4,400 TEU (Twenty-foot standard containers),” Popov told Interfax at the St. Petersburg Forum.
He said the cost of the project will depend on which shipyard is awarded the contract.
“At the first stage of the project, we plan to build up to five vessels,” Vladimir Panov said and added that the first container ship will sail as soon as in 2027.
China partnerships accelerate projects
Russia is currently operating four new nuclear-powered icebreakers that are capable of crushing sea ice east of the Taymyr Peninsula during the winter period. Three more are under construction, in addition to one giga-icebreaker specially designed for the most challenging ice conditions north of Siberia.
Last year, the New New Shipping pioneered a voyage from China via the Northern Sea Route to the White Sea. The cargo was reloaded and sent further from the port of Arkhangelsk with railway to Moscow.
The company made another set of headlines in international news last year after its ship New New Polar Bear was investigated for potential involvement in damage to the Balticconnector natural gas pipeline and telecommunication cables in the Gulf of Finland.
The ship then sailed together with Rosatomflot’s nuclear powered container ship Sevmorput. The Sevmorput has since been laid up in Murmansk awaiting decommissioning.
Rosatom’s first established a sub-branch, the Rusatom Cargo, for Arctic container shipping in 2019, the company’s newspaper Strana Rosatom informed. Russia itself has limited options to build large civilian ships as most yards are busy with military orders to the navy. Teaming up with China accelerates the project fast towards realisation.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Is the promise of military icebreakers political theatre or sensible policy?, CBC News
Russia: Russia sees stable oil exports and booming gas business by 2050, Thomson Reuters
