Russia’s state nuclear power company, Rosatom, appoints new role to its nuclear-powered container behemoth to transport fish shipments on previously frozen, Northern Sea Route.
The “Sevmorput” can be applied for shipments of frozen fish, including salmon, from the Russian Pacific coast to ports in Northwest Russia according to the Barents Observer.
The 1988-built 260.30m ship is one of only four nuclear-powered merchant ships ever built.
In a meeting with the State Fisheries Agency (Rosrybolovstvo) and representatives of fish processing companies late October, Rosatom made clear that the “Sevmorput” can be applied for shipments of frozen fish from the Russian Pacific coast to ports in Northwest Russia.
The nuclear container ship will be able to transport carry more than 1,300 containers. It’s can also break through 1.5 meter thick ice. And if confirmed, it may be scheduled to run in 2019.
Record low sea ice levels due to climate change are opening up the Northern Sea Route, offering a new alternative to the Suez Canal.
The publication reported that in August 2014, reefer “Garmoniya” sailed from Vladivostok to Arkhangelsk with 3,000 tons of salmon. In 2018, it also successfully delivered frozen Pacific salmon to the Norebo company in Murmansk.
This August, “Venta Maersk”, a new ice-class 42,000 ton vessel carrying 3,600 containers of mostly frozen fish, left Vladivostok on Russia’s east coast and navigated through the Northern Sea Route for the first time. The ship docked in St Petersburg in September.
