Arkhangelsk gives up hope for Northern Sea Route administration

Acting regional Minister of Industry, Transport and Communication Vasily Boyko admits to Regnum that his region’s bid for the administration is unlikely to be crowned with success. The administration will probably continue to be based in Moscow together with the federal Agency on Sea and River Transport, Boyko says.

The Arkhangelsk regional administration has for several years lobbied for the establishment of the structure in Arkhangelsk.

Now, the region has modified its objectives, and instead hopes for the establishment of a regional branch of the administration in Arkhangelsk.

The future location of the administration as well as various new shipping regulations are to be laid down in a new Law on the Northern Sea Route, expected to be adopted in the course of 2011. It is now already more than a year since a bill on the issue was handed over the parliament assembly, Vasily Boyko says.

Read also: Russia drafts law on Northern Sea Route

Shipping on the Northern Sea Route is today managed by the Agency on Sea and River Transport. The agency’s website includes various official information about sailing on the route.

As reported by BarentsObserver, several shipping operations were this year organized on the route, among them a passenger ferry sailing from Murmansk and a shipment of iron ore from Kirkenes, Norway. In 2011, a number of new operations are under planning.

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