The significant part of world’s deposits of oil and natural gas are hidden in the Arctic. It is practically impossible to take all those resources from the North Pole without the help of nuclear icebreakers. The annual volume of cargo transported over the Northern Sea Route is expected to reach 60-70 million tons by 2020.
“Those will be Rosatomflot’s nuclear icebreakers performing pilotage of ships, transporting raw hydrocarbons from Yamal and Gydan peninsulas deposits and the Kara sea shelf not only to the markets of Atlantic ocean but of the Pacific as well”, – says Vyacheslav Rouksha, head of nuclear icebreaker fleet. Today Russia has the mightiest icebreaker fleet in the world and has unique ship-building, design and operating experience. Atomic fleet of Russia has 6 nuclear icebreakers, 1 container carrying ship and 4 service ships. Russian ships perform their tasks, providing stable functioning of the Northern Sea Route and access to high north and the Arctic shelf, quite successfully.
Winter results
Winter navigation on the Northern Sea Route on the whole ended by the middle of spring. All vessels returned to their homewards with impressing results. The “Rossiya” icebreaker worked in the Baltic Sea water area. This is the third shift of Russian nuclear ships on the approaches to Baltic ports in winter-spring period in recent years. Speaking about the work done, Oleg Mikhailovich Schapin, the captain, was laconic: “This year’s winter on the Baltic Sea was tougher than the previous years. On April 8, on our way back, finishing the 90-days contract on ships pilotage, made with FSUE “Rosmorport”, we still saw the 30-40 sm thick ice left of the sea surface. However we completed our task: speaking about tankers only, mainly bulk ones – we piloted 225 of them. There were several cargo ships as well”.
Thus the nuclear icebreaker piloted 5-6 vessels of different companies and countries daily, mainly in two directions: Ust-Luga and Primorsk. As a result, the oil pipe on each of six piers worked non-stop, unloading 10 tons of oil an hour. Speaking about the results of “Rossiya’s” work and its crew, Vyacheslav Rouksha said: “The icebreaker worked 22 hours a day, so you can imagine…Very hard both for people and for ship, but they worked with no stops and technical complaints. For the icebreaker more than 25 years old the result is very good. Future prospects for nuclear vessels in the Baltic Sea are quite clear: in the ports of the Gulf of Finland yet now the annual cargo transshipment is 230-240 million tons. And this is not the limit. For comparison: in the USSR Baltic ports worked with only 12-14 tons a year…”
In May the Rosatomflot’s atomic ship “Vaigach” completed the work upon the contract with “Norilsk Nickel” (the biggest producer of nickel and palladium, one of the biggest – of platinum and copper) on the Enissey river. The ship’s task was creating and renewing a channel for the company’s vessels. This year the ice situation on Enissey was somewhat complicated, so “Vaigach” had to renew the channel every few days upon the request of the contractor. About the same period of time the navigation on the White Sea ended. This year the large-capacity tankers of the Novatek (Russian gas company, the second by output of natural gas in Russia) were piloted toward the Vitino port by 4 atomic ships of Atomflot at different times, the one to finish the work was the “Taimyr” icebreaker.
However the end of winter navigation on main directions is not the end of work. Today atomic ships continue working on several lines in the Arctic. Thus, “Taimyr” does piloting of the “Mikhail Somov” diesel-electric ship, going from Arkhangelsk with expedition on board. Its participants continue cleaning of the archipelago from technogenic pollution of the previous years. The “Yamal” atomic icebreaker works with the “Rosneft” and the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute expedition in the Kara Sea. “The 50 Years of Victory” atomic ship is in its homeward, Murmansk, going through scheduled dockside repair.
Summer Plans
Transit navigation upon the Northern Sea Route is planned to start in the third decade of June.
Together with that type of navigation, which doesn’t suggest port calls, some supply services within the bounds of Severny Zavoz (deliveries of goods to the Northern Territories) will be conducted on the NSR. In the coming navigation period the NSR is expected to endure unprecedented volume of cargo transportation, having grown tremendously in the recent two years.
“The 50 Years of Victory” icebreaker today is preparing for a somewhat unique mission. This is the only ship conducting cruises to the Arctic. The idea to send atomic ships to Arctic cruises from time to time appeared at the beginning of the 2000-s. The first was “Yamal”. In 2008 it was substituted by “The 50 Year of Victory”. The tourists are taken to the North Pole 3-5 times a year, depending on a demand. In the recent two years there were four cruises.
The journey to the Arctic starts in Murmansk. Tourists are sent to the Atomflot base and after going through necessary control get on board of “The 50 Years of Victory”. Later in the evening the ship goes out to the sea through the strait near the Kola Peninsula.
The journey from Murmansk to the North Pole takes from 4 to 8 days, depending on the ice situation. However weather unpredictability gives the journey the atmosphere of true adventure. After achieving their goal – the North Pole – the tourists go down to the ice surface. The bravest ones can have a short swim in the Arctic Ocean.
On their way back, if the weather permits, the tourists visit some stunningly beautiful islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago. The icebreaker enters the Tikhaya bay to see Rubini rock, ice-birds nesting place. On the shore, if it’s not covered with mist, one can see the building of abandoned research station and several big glaciers. The archipelago territory is populated with white bears and walruses. Curious bears sometimes come right to the ship board. On the 13-th day of the journey the ship returns to Murmansk.
