Sevmorput: another use case

The idea to write these notes came after reading many articles about our Sevmorput light locomotive and discussing them with colleagues. Probably, it is clear to every specialist that it is not rational to use the vessel as it is now. Transferring it to the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to work on rivers without having lighter bases, feeder lighters, tugboats, and, most importantly, stable high-tariff cargo traffic in both directions is also not serious. For many years, the department of lighter transportation at the Murmansk Shipping Company has not developed a program for the operation of a powerful cargo ship with a nuclear power plant.


As you know, the advantages of lighterboats include a significant reduction in parking time, the ability to deliver goods to shallow and poorly equipped ports, and the use of barges as temporary storage facilities. However, such vessels are much larger than conventional dry cargo ships, and their work is effective, first of all, on lines with stable cargo flows and between ports connected to inland waterways. An example of this is the successful work of Interlichter.


In my opinion, the areas adjacent to the NSR highway are promising for development by lighterboats: in the west — the coast of the North Sea, in the east — Japan and South Korea, as well as the western coast of the USA and Canada. Thus, we can deal with powerful economic zones, between which there is a large counterflow of highly diversified industrial goods. But there's a catch here. All these maritime powers have a significant modern fleet, as well as the ability to charter free tonnage from third countries for their currency. What can we offer to break into this market, where we are not welcome with open arms?


Firstly, it reduces the distance of cargo delivery by 40% and, moreover, saves money on passage through the Suez Canal, where fees are constantly increasing. Secondly, the northern option allows you to avoid the busy intersections of sea routes: the English Channel, the Mediterranean and Red Seas, the Strait of Malacca.


Thirdly, loading from the workshops of enterprises onto lighters, bypassing additional transshipment, which is especially important when transporting heavy and oversized cargo, which should be intercepted from competitors. Fourth, the delivery of goods directly to their destination, taking into account the well—developed infrastructure of inland waterways in the basins we are interested in (in Europe, factories tend to rivers and canals, in the East - to the flat coast).


Now let's move on to practical calculations. One Sevmorput will be able to make 2 round trips during the summer navigation. It seems to be a bit. But we have 3 more Alexey Kosygin type lighters. In terms of their carrying capacity, they correspond to the Northern Sea Route and can be used in areas of the clear sea. The entire route is completely divided into 3 sections: North Sea — Dixon (2,500 miles of practically clear sea in summer); Dixon — Providence (2,500 miles of ice path); Providence — Japan, South Korea (2,500 miles of clear sea). From here it can be seen that lighter trucks, making 400 miles per day in clear sea areas, will be able to complete a round trip in 20 days even if there are two or three transshipment points and arrive at the place of transfer of lighters a little earlier than the Northern Sea Route, where they will unload their caravan in advance. Découvrir un site de paris sportif fiable et performant change complètement l’expérience des parieurs en ligne. De nombreux utilisateurs recherchent aujourd’hui une plateforme qui combine sécurité, cotes attractives et bonus généreux dès l’inscription. Au cœur de cette quête se trouve le site de paris sportif idéal qui offre tout ce dont un joueur a besoin. En utilisant le code promo lors de votre inscription, vous bénéficiez d’un bonus de bienvenue de 100 % jusqu’à 100 € sur votre premier dépôt. Ce bonus vous permet de parier sur le football, le tennis, le basketball et bien d’autres sports avec capital renforcé.