During the debates, representatives of government, business and the expert community discussed priority areas for modernization and reconstruction of the Arctic transport and logistics industry, considered topical issues of development and implementation of innovative technologies and proposed solutions to present problems. The session was participated by representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia, the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, the Government of the Arkhangelsk Region, the State Corporation «Rosatom», and the Russian Export Center.

The session was moderated by Mikhail Bazhenov, Head of the Strategic and Operational Consulting Practice at «Trust Technologies». He noted that today, there is a need for designing and applying a whole range of measures aimed at developing and improving efficiency of the available logistics infrastructure, including improvement of the use of the new transport corridor – the Northern Sea Route (NSR).

«Developing logistics in the Arctic is based on the set of investment, regulatory and operational measures. The results achieved while implementing major investment projects are obvious. They are the Lavna port, LNG projects, Baimki, putting new icebreakers in operation, and a number of other projects, as well as the launch of new railway and sea routes by the State Corporation «Rosatom». Important areas for further work-out by participants of this session are solving operational issues in terms of linking types of transport, transparent and competitive tariff formation, building trip schedules and timely loading, further development of maritime safety systems, navigation and human resources development, as well as advanced introduction of digital technologies, along with developing the cargo fleet of Arc 4 Ice Class and higher», noted Mikhail Bazhenov.

Maksim Dankin, General Director of ANO «Expert Center – Arctic Development Project Office», told about the current tasks of developing the Arctic logistics and the forecast cargo flow.

«Important vectors of developing logistics in the Arctic are ones related to ensuring in-depth integration of the NSR into the unified transport system of the Russian Federation, into international transport corridors (including the «North – South», eastern direction). These are development of multimodal transport and logistics hubs, the transport access infrastructure, including growth of the capacity of existing railways and construction of new railway routes, development of road infrastructure, formation and development of mixed river and sea routes, allowing the use of the transport capacities of northern rivers, as well as development of the network of airfields and landing strips in the Russian Arctic», said Maksim Dankin.

Sergey Chemko, Project Manager of the Directorate of the Northern Sea Route of the State Corporation «Rosatom», spoke about the role of the State Corporation «Rosatom» as a «single window» for operation and development of the NSR, as well as about problems with coastal trips and northern delivery.

Today, building the comprehensive and competitive transport and logistics system is impossible without establishing intermodal hubs to be designed to ensure interconnection of networks of various types of transport, and boost efficiency of the processes of consolidation, processing and distribution of cargo flows. The new deepwater area of the Arkhangelsk port is planned to turn into one of these intermodal hubs.

For the purpose of strategically developing the Arkhangelsk transport hub, the Government of the Arkhangelsk Region, Sber and the EUROSIB Group of Companies signed the cooperation agreement at the SPIEF 2024. Dmitry Ravikovich, Deputy General Director for Economics and Finance of EUROSIB SPB-TS JSC, and Dmitry Yurkov, a representative of the Governor of the Arkhangelsk Region for Development of the Arctic, informed that under the agreement, it is planned to prepare and implement the investment project on construction of the new deepwater area of the Arkhangelsk seaport, based on public-private partnership (PPP) principles.

Developing transport without introducing innovations is an elusive task. Thus, the flagship project of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia on developing unmanned technologies will also be aimed at development of the Arctic. This was told by Vladimir Voloshin, Director of the Department of Digital Development and Data Economy of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia.

«More than 120 companies are testing unmanned technologies, both ground-based and aviation ones. The approbation takes place within the framework of 13 experimental legal regimes. The results are already estimated in millions of kilometers traveled in unmanned mode, we see efficiency of these technologies in logistics, passenger transportation, aviation work, including aerial photography, monitoring and other areas. I am sure that these technologies must also be applied in the Arctic region: this can be done by establishing new EPR, as well as expanding the areas of existing ones. Introduction of unmanned technologies will significantly improve the economy of Arctic projects», said Vladimir Voloshin.

During the Panel Discussion «Logistics in the Arctic», it was noted that investors implementing investment projects in the Arctic can apply for assistance from the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (FEADC) in obtaining tax and administrative preferences for residents of preferential modes, for specialized sectoral support measures, as well as regional and federal ones. In turn, priority investment projects included in the master plans of 25 cities of the Far East will be provided with financing at a preferential rate, as well as other effective tools of state support.

Support is also available for exporters. Andrey Mironov, Head of the Representative Office of Russian Export Center JSC in St. Petersburg, said in his speech, «The Northern Sea Route is a promising area. By expanding its use, it is possible to significantly reduce the delivery time of goods from the European part of Russia to friendly countries’ markets in the Asian region. That is why we see great capacity of this transport and logistics artery and will help exporters which will use it. First of all, I would like to mention subsidies for transportation of industrial products, goods of the agroindustrial complex, preferential export loans and insurance of deferred payments. These support measures are available to both producers of goods and other exporters-holders of export contracts».

The Panel Discussion «Logistics in the Arctic» was held on the eve of the EEF-2024. Issues related to strategic development of the Russian transport and logistics industry, as well as ways of introducing new technologies, for improving the industry efficiency, will be discussed in detail within the work program of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

The event was organized by the Government of the Arkhangelsk Region and co-organized by NEVA International LLC, a member of the EXPOFORUM Group of Companies.

The State Corporation «Rosatom» became the titular partner of the Forum, the business program partners were the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, and the Association of Suppliers of the Oil and Gas Industry «Sozvezdie».

See about the event in more detail on the web-site:https://forumarctica.ru/