Putin and Xi's Arctic Gamble Thwarted by Icebreaker Shortage

Russia faces a shortage of icebreaking vessels which could hamper its plans to increase trade through the Arctic which it intends to conduct with China.

Russia's official in charge of Arctic development, Alexei Chekunkov, told the business newspaper RBC that despite plans to more than the double the 34 million tons of cargo supplied via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) route by next year, there were not enough icebreaking vessels, not just in Russia, but globally.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow in March, President Vladimir Putin announced a joint working body to develop the NSR, which is an alternative to the Suez Canal and runs from Murmansk near the border with Norway eastwards to the Bering Strait, near Alaska.

Moscow is also in talks with India on how to cooperate over the route which would dramatically reduce travel times from Russia's Baltic ports to oil refineries in northern China.

In June, Putin told the BRICS summit, which included India, Brazil and South Africa, how Moscow wanted to develop flagship projects, including the NSR, which would require new ports, fuel terminals and an expanded icebreaker fleet.

"Perhaps my greatest concern is the availability of [an] ice-class fleet in sufficient quantities," Chekunkov told RBC, admitting that there would not be enough vessels to meet Russia's goal of transporting 200 million tons by 2031.

The main problem was the lack of shipyards to produce the icebreakers, which would take "not months, but years" to build. Chekunkov said Moscow is in consultation with China and India on constructing new vessels.

In 2022, the Russian government greenlit a 13-year program to build 50 icebreakers and ice-class vessels to operate on the NSR, as well as the infrastructure needed to run them, such as ports, satellites and terminals for coal, oil and liquefied natural gas, RBC reported.

In March, Alexander Vorotnikov, coordinator of Russia's expert council of the Arctic Development Project Office, told Russian news outlet Ura.ru that Moscow needed a partner like China developing the Arctic route because it had the "financial resources and has the technologies that we need."

Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, and representatives of NSR operator Rosatom warned last year that there were not enough icebreakers. Medvedev said three out of the six vessels controlled by Rosatom used outdated technologies, RBC reported.

The opening of the navigation season on Russia's NSR started in July, with oil tankers carrying Urals crude from the Russia's Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga and headed east to Rizhao in China.