Norilsk-Nickel shipment arrived in Shanghai
The ice-classed vessel “Monchegorsk” is the first cargo vessel to sail the entire Northern Sea Route without icebreaker assistance.
“Monchegorsk” is also the first ever Norilsk-Nickel vessel to bring metal from the Kola Peninsula to China via the Northern Sea Route.
The Norilsk-Nickel owned vessel sailed from Murmansk on September 15th and sailed via the port of Dudinka on the Taimyr Peninsula to Asia via the north. The diesel-electric cargo vessel ”Monchegorsk” can sail in ice without icebreaker assistance.
- This shipment is unique because it is the first time in the history of navigation in the Northern Sea Route and in the history of the the company and in the history of Russia that such large vessel sail the eastern part of the Northern Sea Route without icebreaker assistance, Norilsk-Nickel writes in a press-release.
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Arriving in Shanghai in China on Sunday October 17th the vessel will off-load its metal cargo and load Chinese manufacturing material and consumer goods to bring back to the residents of Norilsk on the Taimyr Peninsula in Siberia.
The route from Shanghai to the harbor town of Dudinka on the Taimyr Peninsula is expected to take some 20 days via the north instead of 60-65 days if the vessel was to sail the traditional route via the Suez Cannel and a transshipments port in Europe.
Norilsk-Nickel has five icebreaking cargo vessels and is now planning to build ice-classed tankers as well. The company’s ice-class cargo vessels “Norilski Nikel”, “Monchegorsk”, “Zapolyarny”, “Talnakh” and “Nadezhda” in 2009 conducted 57 voyages to Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Rotterdam, BarentsObserver reported last year.
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