Rosatom and Nornickel have signed an additional agreement to complete their 2018 collaboration agreements. The additional agreement will last until 2030, which will be a testament to the strategic partnership between the 2 companies. With this agreement, the parties aim to cooperate with an uninterrupted and environmentally friendly integrated icebreaker for ships sailing on the Northern Sea Route. The signing ceremony took place as part of the “Arctic Day” event organized by Rosatom.
The document includes expanding the cooperation of the parties, as Nornickel plans to increase shipping traffic along the Northern Sea Route. Metals and mining company Nornickel is increasing traffic volume to facilitate the timely implementation of strategic investment projects in the Norilsk industrial zone.
The agreement also extends the annual window during which Rosatom provides ship escort services to Nornickel. Nuclear-powered icebreakers of the Taymyr and Vaygach type are currently accompanying Nornickel ships from January to May. According to the new agreement, the ship escort period will be extended until November-May.
The additional agreement was signed by Kirill Komarov, Rosatom’s First Executive Vice President and Director of Development and International Business, and Sergey Dubovitsky, Nornickel’s Senior Vice President and Head of Strategy and Strategic Projects Management, Logistics and Resource Support.
In his speech at the signing ceremony, Kirill Komarov said, “Rosatom and Nornickel have been collaborating successfully for decades in providing icebreaker-guided cargo transportation along the northern sea route. The extension of the agreement until 2030 will directly benefit the efficient work of Russia’s nuclear icebreaker fleet. “We will continue to provide a reliable service to our partners at a transparent price in the coming years,” he said.
Sergey Dubovitsky said, “Nornickel has historically used the north sea route for cargo transportation and is one of its oldest users. The company is today at a new stage of development. Our new ambitious projects to modernize production, improve the environmental situation and renew Norilsk, not just large-scale investments , also requires reliable infrastructure, including transportation. Our long-term and reliable partner for more than half a century, the nuclear icebreaker fleet will become a direct participant in these changes. We are pleased with the expansion of our cooperation with Rosatom, and that it is not only on the realization of Nornickel’s plans, but also on the realization of Nornickel’s plans. We are confident that it will also have a positive impact on the implementation of the state program for the development of Russia and the Arctic.”
As part of this new agreement, the parties have agreed to “take or They plan to make pay-to-pay contracts.
FSUE Atomflot, a subsidiary of Rosatom, which is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet within the framework of the cooperation of the parties, plans to operate Nornickel’s future dual-fuel diesel-LNG icebreaker. The parties also plan to build a fleet of port icebreakers to replace Nornickel’s port icebreaker Dudinka, as well as the possibility of jointly constructing an icebreaker to replace the now obsolete Taymyr/Vaygach type icebreaker.