For the first 2 months of summer-autumn navigation period on the NSR, 30 transit voyages were registered: 19 in the eastern direction and 11 in the western direction. The total volume of transported cargo at the moment may amount to 1.3 million tons, 98% of which goes from Russia to China.
There are 16 voyages going in this direction:
a) 9 tankers from the ports of Primorsk (3 voyages), Murmansk (5 voyages) and from Offshore platform Prirazlomnaya (1voyage) with a total cargo volume of about 896 thousand tons of crude oil.
b) 5 bulk carriers carrying various bulk cargoes, including coal from the Baltic port of Ust-Luga (2 voyages), mineral fertilizers from St. Petersburg (2 voyages) and iron ore concentrate from Murmansk (1 voyage). The total volume of bulk cargo is approximately 416 thousand tons.
c) 2 return voyages of container ships Xin Xin Hai 1 and Xin Xin Hai 2 from Arkhangelsk to China with general cargo of about 11 thousand tons.
In the return direction from China to Russia there are 7 different voyages registered, 3 of which are in ballast condition, possibly going for loading and then return with cargo via the NSR. Also, there are 4 container vessel voyages from China to Arkhangelsk with approximately 17 thousand tons of containerized cargo.
Besides transportation between Russia and China there are 6 transit voyages between Russian ports and one bulk carrier “Eldora”, IMO 9584619 coming from China with destination port Oslo, Norway. At the same time, this vessel reports estimated arrival date 10th September that makes it impossible to get to Oslo that fast. Based on a distances and average speed calculation this vessel may arrive to Murmansk by 10th September. We will update info on this voyage. *Update on “Eldora” voyage dated 23.09.24. This vessel changed port of destination from Oslo to Gdansk, Poland on September 10 and further on September 19 changed to Ust Luga port in Russia, where the vessel arrived on September 22.
More detailed information about vessels is available at the interactive dashboard below.
At the time of publication, no confirmed international transit voyages were recorded. By term international we mean transit from one non-Russian port to other non-Russian port. Most likely this year transit transportation via the NSR will remain mainly for exporting of resources from Russia to China and transporting of some containerized cargo from China to Russia.
Based on the number of issued transits permits and corresponding vessel sizes, it can be assumed that more transit cargo will be transported during 2024 season compared to 2,1 million tons of transit cargo in summer 2023. Transit navigation at the NSR may last until mid-November or even longer, depending on actual ice conditions, vessel’s ice class and icebreaker assistance.
Traffic overview was compelled based on Spire ShipView AIS data, vessel’s characteristics from Clarkson Fleet Database, potential cargo capacity, ship’s draft, our own calculations and other reports on this topic. Information includes voyages that have already started by the moment of publication. Some of them are not completed yet and some voyages have just started and not yet reached the NSR area. The next update will be published by October 1, 2024.
