The total volume of dredging and hydraulic engineering operations in the waters of the Northern Sea Route in 2023 is to amount to 13.5 million cubic meters, said Maxim Kulinko, Deputy Head of the NSR Directorate of ROSATOM at the 6th Hydraulic Engineering and Dredging Congress. This amounts to 36.1% of all dredging operations planned in Russia. According to FSUE Rosmorport, the total volume of dredging operations planned to be performed in 2023 in all other water areas taken together is 23.9 million cubic meters.
He noted that intense work is under way to create a port infrastructure within the framework of the Development of the Northern Sea Route federal program. “The major facilities include: the Sea Canal (a navigable sea canal in the Gulf of Ob in the Kara Sea). The volume of dredging work is to be 6.5 million cubic meters. It is necessary to perform dredging works for 2.7 million cubic meters at the Port Bay North oil terminal. The water area of the cargo berth and the canal of the coal terminal for Syradasayskoye field is 1.8 million cubic meters”, said Maxim Kulinko.
Scheduled repair dredging will also begin in 2023. First of all, these are water areas of Sabetta sea port and Utrenny terminal for liquefied natural gas and stable gas condensate, along with a section of quay embankment No.4 – 2 million cubic meters and about 0.5 million cubic meters for construction of sea port facilities near the village of Sabetta, including creation of a navigable approach canal in the Gulf of Ob.
“All projects are secured both from the federal budget and through extra-budgetary funding. The targets set by the President and the Government of Russia have remain unchanged,” stressed the Deputy Head of the NSR Directorate.
All the NSR projects will be implemented as planned. That is why FSUE Hydrographic Enterprise, part of ROSATOM, is starting to create a dredging fleet of its own. Alexandr Bengert, Director General of the enterprise, told the congress participants that in order to fulfill repair dredging to the planned scope, it is necessary to create a high-capacity dredging fleet with technical characteristics enabling to perform a large volume of dredging works within a short navigation period. “The composition of the dredging fleet must cover the annual need for repair dredging work in the waters of the Northern Sea Route. In the conditions in place, the efficiency of dredging directly depends on solving the issue of proper coordination of the Russian Federation fleet deployment across all the projects being implemented,” said Alexandr Bengert.
Acting Deputy Director General of NSR General Administration, which is part of ROSATOM, urged the congress participants planning to take part in the implementation of investment projects on the NSR, to contact the institution for advice and clarification, if necessary, to ensure that the planned dredging and construction work is performed within the established time frame.
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Since 2018, ROSATOM has been the infrastructure operator of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and is responsible for organizing navigation along the NSR, construction of infrastructure facilities, navigation and hydrographic support, as well as a system to ensure maritime safety in harsh Arctic conditions. The Corporation is the curator of two federal projects – Development of the Northern Sea Route; and Northern Sea Route – 2030, participates in the implementation of the Northern Sea Route Development Plan up to the year 2035, approved by Russian Federation Government Order No. 2115-r dated August 1, 2022, as well as the initiative on socio-economic development of the Russian Federation up to the year 2030 Year-Round Northern Sea Route approved by Russian Federation Government Order No. 2816-r dated Oct 06, 2021. ROSATOM’s NSR Directorate circuit comprises FSUE Atomflot, FSUE Hydrographic Enterprise and NSR General Administration.
NSR General Administration of the Northern Sea Route (NSR General Administration), part of ROSATOM, was established by the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation in 2022 on the basis of federal laws amending the Merchant Shipping Code of the Russian Federation and the Law On State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM in order to organize navigation of vessels in the waters of the Northern Sea Route. It is intended to ensure the organization of icebreaker escort of ships and their passage along the recommended routes in the NSR water area taking into account hydrometeorological, ice and navigation conditions, as well as issuance, suspension, renewal and termination of permits for navigation of ships in the NSR water area and making changes to such permits.
The Hydraulic Engineering and Dredging Congress is held annually by the leading industry media group PortNews on the site of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. It combines the 10th International Forum of Dredging Companies and the 6th Technical Conference – Modern Solutions for Hydraulic Engineering. The event annually brings together more than 400 delegates – the largest customers and successful contractors of hydraulic engineering, dredging and underwater engineering works. Among the delegates are suppliers of high-tech equipment, components, design and engineering organizations, industry universities.
