Russia has decided to host the administration for the Northern Sea Route in its capital, Moscow. The new headquarters will open late January this year.
The Deputy Transport Minister of Russia, Viktor Olersky, said to RIA Novosti that a draft of the resolution has been made and it is being coordinated by federal agencies. The BarentsObserver states that both Murmansk and Arkhangelsk lost the fight for hosting the administration, after looking for having it in its respective cities for years.
The reason given for choosing Moscow, instead of either of the two harbor cities in the route is "in order not to offend anyone". Olersky also said that a branch could be opened later in Arkhangelsk.
He said that although concerns may rise that Moscow is not at the sea route that it was a good location as the Emergency Situations Ministry was in Moscow, as well as other big companies and organizations who work and employ in the areas.
The state owned enterprise will have a budget of 35 million Rubles. Only for days prior to the decision by Olersky, the Governor of Arkhangelsk Igor Orlov said that Arkhangelsk was ready to open a NSR office that would handle all practical tasks connected to traffic on the route – applications to use the route, coordination with the Agency on Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, use of Arctic aviation and so on.
In 2012 total cargo transported through the Northern Sea Route was 1.261.545 tons, an increase of over 50 percent from 2011. The total number of ships also increased from 34 in 2011 to 46 in 2012, compared to only 4 in 2010.
Sources