08 августа 2024 — 16:40
A new transport route has been launched along the Northern Sea Route, which allows reducing the delivery time of goods by ten days, Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes. Goods from Asian countries arrive directly at the port of St. Petersburg, bypassing transport delays on the Trans-Siberian railway, for only 25 days.
Until recently, the Northern Sea Route was mainly used for domestic transportation between Russian ports. However, in recent years it has become in demand by international shippers as a shorter alternative to the route through the Suez Canal or past the Cape of Good Hope on the Cape Peninsula south of Cape Town (South Africa).
The appearance of the new route was the result of modernization of technologies and improvement of navigation conditions in the Arctic. As experts of the Business Lines Group of companies noted, today Arctic-class vessels are able to overcome ice up to 2 meters thick, which allows them to safely pass through the Northern Sea Route even in winter.
Goods arrive directly at the port of St. Petersburg, bypassing transport delays on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
The new transport service is available to all customers. However, it is necessary to adjust for the harsh Arctic climate, so not all goods are accepted for transportation. Some shipments may require transportation in insulated containers instead of conventional ones. If necessary, thermal insulation materials are additionally used for packing the cargo.
According to the statistics of the logistics operator, imports from China prevail in the Asian direction. Over 70 percent of all traffic for the first half of 2024 goes from there. More than 60 percent of all supplies are delivered to the European part of Russia, mainly spare parts, industrial and electrical equipment. And there is every chance that freight traffic will continue to grow.
At the Russian-Chinese Business Forum, which took place in May 2023 in Shanghai, there was talk of increasing the mutual cargo turnover between the two countries to $ 200 billion. In just one year (in 2023 compared to 2022), the trade turnover between Russia and China increased by a third. It was the launch of new routes that contributed to the development - in October 2023, the first container ship from China reached the port of Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region for the first time. And in July 2024, a new railway and sea route to China was launched, along which goods from St. Petersburg and Moscow go by rail to Arkhangelsk, and from there to Shanghai and Ningbo.