Icebreaker "Leader" will give Russia a monopoly on the Northern Sea Route

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Russia is a truly unique country. Her wealth now grows not only in Siberia, but also in the distant and cold Far North. The continental shelf of the Arctic abounds with huge reserves of hydrocarbons and other minerals. The gradual decrease in the Arctic ice cover of the ocean increasingly increases the importance of the Northern Sea Route. Experts are convinced that over time, subject to sufficient investments in the port infrastructure of Russia in the Far North, our country will be able to get its own alternative to the Suez Canal, and the high speed of cargo movement through it will be a clear competitive advantage.


The implementation of such an ambitious project requires serious material andtechnical base, investment and time. Despite the accelerating melting of ice, the Northern Sea Route is a transport artery with extremely difficult navigation, which can only be used with the help of icebreakers. Conventionally, it can be divided into two segments. The first is the sea route from Murmansk to the Yenisei. The icebreaker fleet, inherited from the USSR, is able to provide year-round navigation on it. However, east of the Yenisei, the NSR can now be used only 5-6 months a year, which is clearly not enough to become a full-fledged competitor to Suezu.



The main objective is to guarantee year-round navigation along the entire length of the Northern Sea Route. Available Soviet icebreakers need serious modernization. Modern nuclear-powered icebreakers of the 22220 series are currently being built at the shipyards in St. Petersburg. They will be lowered from the slipways in a few years and will serve as a replacement for the obsolete ones, but they will not be able to solve the problem of the eastern section of the NSR in the winter. The maximum thickness of ice that they are able to push is 2,6 meters, and in winter the ice cover east of the Yenisei is much thicker. Russia needs more powerful icebreakers.

To this end, the government, together with the largest oil and gas companies, are working on a project to build the world's most powerful nuclear icebreaker, called the Leader. According to preliminary estimates, a heavy-duty icebreaker will cost the country 99 billion rubles, plans to create three such special ships. Unlike all existing icebreakers, the Leader must break through ice 4,3 meters thick, leaving behind a 50 meter wide canal, through which any cargo vessels can pass after them. Two nuclear reactors with a capacity of 315 megawatts each will be installed on the Leader, and its expected service life will be at least 40 years. The autonomy of navigation in ice will be limited only by food supplies for crew members, it is calculated approximately for 8 months, which will be enough to ensure navigation in the most difficult winter period.

The appearance of the "Leader" is extremely interested in Russian oil and gas companies. For example, NOVATEK plans to increase the volume of supplies of liquefied natural gas via the Northern Sea Route to Asian countries to 20 million tons per year. Rosneft, which has invested heavily in the construction of the Zvezda shipyard in Primorye, has ambitious plans, where they plan to build super icebreakers. The extreme interest of oil workers in the appearance of the Leader is evidenced by the fact that Rosfnet is ready next year to invest 3,5 billion rubles in advance in the development of its design documentation. The icebreaker should be laid in 2020, and get off the slipways in 2027. Starting in 2023, the construction of the second series of Leaders is planned to begin.

The icebreaker will turn out to be expensive, but it will immediately find its application in large-scale commercial projects. Its appearance will give a serious impetus to the development of shipbuilding in our country, as well as increase economic attractiveness of the Far East and consolidate the status of Russia as the main Arctic power.
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  1. +1
    17 October 2018 05: 19
    The icebreaker "Leader" will give Russia a monopoly on the Northern Sea Route.

    Why give? Strengthen the monopoly of Russia in the Arctic.
    Russia has a monopoly not only on the Northern Sea Route, but throughout the Arctic for more than a dozen years.
    Thanks to previous generations. Who spared no effort and risking their lives, mastered this region.
    1. +1
      17 October 2018 08: 17
      Now a lot of people have come to grab a piece of the Arctic: from the Netherlands to China.