China-Murmansk container voyage alters Russian Arctic transport hub status

MURMANSK, September 11. /TASS/. The first container voyage from China to Murmansk with car spare parts and a return voyage with potash fertilizers along the Northern Sea Route change the status of the city of Murmansk and the Murmansk port, making it the largest transit and logistics hub in the Russian Federation's north-west, Doctor of Economics, head of the Expert Council on Arctic Development at the St. Petersburg Committee on Foreign Relations Alexey Fadeev told TASS.

In late August, the first ship of China's NewNew Shipping Line, carrying more than 500 containers with automotive components for the Russian market, after having sailed along the Northern Sea Route, docked at the port of Murmansk. Already in September, the vessel has departed on the return voyage carrying 26,400 tons of potash fertilizers for countries in Southeast Asia.

"This is a very important fact for Murmansk, because Murmansk is now changing its status, it is not just the capital of the Russian Arctic," the expert said. "Thanks to the global events that are taking place now, Murmansk is becoming the largest transit and logistics hub in this country's north-west, and the first voyage of the kind proves this."

Thanks to the development of the Murmansk transport hub, the railway connection between Murmansk and St. Petersburg, and therefore potentially with the North-South logistics corridor, the city and port in the Murmansk Region are now playing an important transport and distribution role related to the global movement of goods, he continued. "We will see how events will develop, but anyway, as of now, the entire situation favors right this development. Murmansk is already gaining the position of the biggest in the world transport and logistics hub in the North."

Breaking southern routes' monopoly

The first container carrier voyage along the Northern Sea Route may also begin the destruction of the southern routes' monopoly by offering possibilities of the Arctic logistics route, he added. "The voyage was still a trial and we are not talking now about major amounts on the global logistics scale, but this is just the first step that will allow us to understand practically how to adjust the route."

Russian Arctic projects have been heavily politicized for a long time, he said. Some foreign critics believed that only Russia needed projects in the Arctic, since they were unprofitable and not competitive. Similar comments were also on the Northern Sea Route. "I believe politicizing Russian projects may be endless, but it's simply impossible to force international businesses to do things they do not want to do. <...> Businesses choose the shortest, most convenient and safest route, which the Northern Sea Route already is as an integral part of the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor," he said.

The Northern Sea Route has a number of advantages that other global logistics routes lack a priori, he noted. In particular, the Northern Sea Route offers twice shorter delivery terms, it is free from pirate attacks, and the route is more predictable and strategically reliable.