Olga Bouch: Murmansk strengthens its position as the key western hub of the Northern Sea Route

During the spring-summer navigation season of 2026, the Murmansk assets of the Port Alliance group – the Murmansk Commercial Seaport and the Murmansk Bulk Terminal – handled 1,020 thousand tonnes of cargo via the Northern Sea Route. This is more than in the same period of 2025 (330 thousand tonnes) and exceeds the previous record of 2021 (968 thousand tonnes). Commentary by Olga Buch, an expert at PORА, Doctor of Economics, Professor, and General Director of the Association of Contractors of Arctic Projects «Murmanshelf.»

The bulk of this cargo flow consisted of metallurgical raw materials (846 thousand tonnes) and anthracite (143.7 thousand tonnes). In 2026, for the first time, Russian potash fertilizers (25.9 thousand tonnes) were shipped to China via the NSR, opening a new supply channel to Asian markets for agrochemical producers. Particularly important is that the railcars that delivered the potash fertilizers to the port did not return empty: they were loaded with apatite concentrate, which helped reduce transportation costs.

The Murmansk Commercial Seaport sent 9 bulk carriers to China, 3 of which were Capesize vessels, whose greater capacity lowers freight costs and partially offsets the railway tariff on the long leg to Murmansk.

The reverse route is also developing: for example, in August 2026, a container ship from China arrived in Murmansk for the first time (6.32 thousand tonnes of container cargo – 502 containers) with auto components for Russian plants. From Murmansk, the cargo was sent by rail to Central Russia. The NSR reduced the delivery distance from China to Russia from roughly 23,000 km via the Suez Canal to 14,000 km via Murmansk, that is, by approximately 35–40%.

For shippers, this means faster delivery, lower fuel costs, and an alternative to congested traditional corridors. The Chinese company NewNew Shipping plans to transport 1.2 million tonnes of cargo via the Northern Sea Route during the summer navigation season of 2027. And that already means systemic shipping, which should turn the pilot route into standard procedures and strengthen the positioning of the Northern Sea Route as a viable, economically advantageous container corridor.

But the route’s logistics must be considered comprehensively – not only the maritime component, but also the railway, customs clearance, and infrastructure components (for example, a well-equipped container terminal of sufficient area, etc.). Otherwise, savings on the maritime leg may be partially lost if a container waits several days for rail dispatch, customs release, or available equipment. Equally important is what the ships will carry back: synchronization of export and import cargo flows is necessary.

For the development of multimodal transportation through the port of Murmansk, one of the key constraints is the long railway leg and full-cost delivery tariffs, as well as the fact that, in addition to the usual maritime model, there are ice conditions, availability of icebreaker escort, vessel-specific limitations, and heightened emergency-readiness requirements.

The navigation results have proven that, thanks to the versatility of their infrastructure, the Murmansk Commercial Seaport and the Murmansk Bulk Terminal are able to promptly adapt their technologies to any types of cargo and provide Russian industry with strategic stability, while giving Murmansk economic benefit, infrastructure development, and new jobs.

Geopolitical changes are reshaping traditional logistics routes. The crisis in the Red Sea and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have reduced the reliability of traditional southern routes; the confrontation between Iran and the United States in the Persian Gulf has raised insurance costs and forced many carriers to route via the Cape of Good Hope, adding 10–14 days and significant fuel surcharges.

In such conditions, the Northern Sea Route (NSR) represents a strategically valuable alternative that bypasses bottlenecks, and this must be taken into account in multimodal logistics strategies, especially for industrial enterprises with regular large-tonnage flows. And the traditional advantages of the port of Murmansk (an ice-free, deep-water port, access to the world ocean, available engineering and warehouse infrastructure, and qualified personnel) make it the main driver of the development of the Northern Sea Route.