Cargo transit along the North Sea Route has already reached the volume of 3 mn tons, exceeding the 2023 figure by 40%, said Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom State Corporation, at the ceremony of launching the nuclear-powered icebreaker Chukotka. This was reported by TASS.

'More than 3 mn tons of transit cargoes have already been transported [along the North Sea Route] by redirecting cargoes from western routes to eastern ones—a 40% increase over last year,' the head of Rosatom said.

Likhachev emphasised that there is growing interest in cargo transportation along the NSR from friendly countries. 'We are working with the government of the People's Republic of China within the framework of a special subcommission, and there is a Russian-Indian working group on the NSR. And it's yielding practical results. The number of voyages between Russian and Chinese ports this year has already exceeded thirteen,' noted the Director General of Rosatom, emphasising that transportation via the NSR allows, for example, containers from Shanghai to reach Moscow 2 weeks earlier than in case of delivery via the Suez Canal. 'And of course, we are also engaged with our foreign partners in plans to build and operate container ships for transportation along the North Sea Route,' Likhachev added.

In 2023, the volume of transit cargo traffic along the NSR reached a record 2.1 mn tons; in September, on the margins of the Eastern Economic Forum, Likhachev said that this figure would definitely be exceeded this year. The total cargo traffic along the NSR in 2023 was 36.254 mn tons. In 2024, according to the forecasts of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, the growth of this indicator will amount to 3–5%.