By the Northern Sea Route during 2023, more than 36 million tons of cargo was carried, more than 250 thousand tons above the target, Rosatom said in a statement.

«Thanks to our partners—most notably Novatek, whose LNG accounts for more than half of all shipments—we were able to achieve the unprecedented outcome,» The CEO of Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, mentioned

He also listed other significant shippers that switched their cargoes from the West to the East and used the Northern Sea Route, such as Gazprom Neft, LUKoil, and Norilsk Nickel.

According to Likhachev, transit freight traffic has not only returned to its level from 2023 but has also surpassed all previous records.

There were 2.129 million tons of transit freight trade in 2023, of which 1.5 million tons were made up mostly of crude oil. About 350 thousand tons were made up of ferrous ore concentrate. In addition, 70 thousand tons were put into a ship by Gazprom and another 70 thousand tons by ELSI Mining.

photo Lev Fedoseev /TASS