Russia Signs Deal With Dubai’s DP World For Developing The Arctic Sea Route

On Tuesday, DP World launched a joint project with Russia’s state nuclear energy firm named Rosatom for developing a container shipping via the Arctic, which is referred to as the “Northern Sea Corridor.”

The assignment will be 51% owned by a unit of Rosatom, the operating body of the Northern Sea Route infrastructure, and 49% by the Russian unit of DB World.

The Northern Corridor is estimated to save nearly 19 days of travel time between Northwestern Europe and Southeast Asia. Studies reflect that one-third of worldwide trade flows take place between these continents, and saving up on shipping time is going to significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions.

Crucially, the length, width, or method of towing ships is not a problem when it comes to the Northern Transit Corridor.

Rosatom said that per a statement reported by Reuters, the cooperation between the two firms aims at the development of an additional trade corridor to transport sea containers via the Northern Sea Corridor.

She added that the direct objectives of this project include completing the design of infrastructure facilities and determining the size of the required investments.

The two firms declared for the first time in 2021 that they would be working together to trial container shipping from northwestern Europe to East Asia via the Arctic.

DP World also affirmed its assistance for Russian efforts for the diversification of trade flows between Europe and Asia, as the Northern Sea Corridor represents the high possibility of lowering transit time between the West and the East. It further announced an investment of about two billion US dollars with the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the continued cooperation to find solutions that permit the Northern Sea Corridor to develop sustainably.

The joint venture was registered on 20 October with a capital of about 960 million rubles.

Putin has spoken frequently about building the corridor, including in his speech at the Belt and Road Forum last week in China, as Russia desires to shift the country’s trade eastward as a response to the Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

Putin said with respect to the Northern Sea Corridor, Russia isn’t just calling on its collaborators to benefit from the transit potential offered by the corridor. Instead, it is calling on interested nations to directly take part in the development.

The corridor reportedly extends from Murmansk, which is close to the Russian border with Norway, to the Bering Strait, close to Alaska.

References: Reuters, Globe Echo

Russia Signs Deal With Dubai’s DP World For Developing The Arctic Sea Route appeared first on Marine Insight – The Maritime Industry Guide

Source: Maritime Shipping News