One of these ideas was to use nuclear powered submarines to ship cargo along Russia’s Arctic coast. ![]() Therefore, the fleet tried to commercialise - unsuccessfully by most accounts - parts of its infrastructure to earn funds for mere survival. The task of delivering supplies to Russia’s far reaches of northern Siberia has traditionally fallen to Murmansk Shipping Company, which operates six nuclear powered icebreakers and one container ship.īut in early 1990s, the Russian Northern Fleet, faced unbearable economic hardships and no prospects for funding from the federal government. Subs versus icebreakers: attempts at underwater cargo shipments The only problem, as Yefremov saw it, lay in the financing - which he suggested could come from Norway. These ships - after the considerable engineering required to develop technologies to transfer oil from drilling platforms to the submarines, and, later, to the waiting tankers - would then deliver their cargo world-wide. Nevertheless, Gabrielsen and others at the conference recognize that an oil boom from Siberia is just around the corner - especially with the unstable situation in the Middle East following the American invasion of Iraq - and it is predicted by many that Russia may, within the next five years, supply one fourth of the US oil needs.Īccording to Yefremov, the submarines could take up to 10,000 tonnes of cargo on-board and ship it under the polar ice to tankers waiting in the Barents Sea. Yefremov’s proposal was met with little enthusiasm by Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, Ansgar Gabrielsen. "We look at it as realistic and economically favourable to use nuclear submarines for oil and gas transport," Yefremov was quoted by news agencies as saying. For this purpose, Yefremov came prepared with his submarine plan - adding the suggestion that Norway foot part of the bill for the dangerous enterprise. The subject of the seminar was a broad view of commercial activities to stimulate the Barents Sea region. ![]() The surprise announcement came during a seminar held recently in the Norwegian city of Kirkenes - a mere half hour from the Russian border. Anatoly Yefremov, the flamboyant governor of Russia’s northwest Arkhangelsk region - home to the flagging Severodvisnk submarine shipyards - is making a push to use nuclear submarines to ship oil, gas and cargo under polar ice to Russia’s far flung northern territories.
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