Norilsk Nickel announces new routes to deliver its products to customers in South East Asia

On September 15 Arctic diesel electric ship Monchegorsk owned by OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (“Norilsk Nickel” or “the Company”) left Murmansk sea port for its first voyage through the Northern Sea Route’s eastern part: Murmansk-Dudinka-Busan-Shanghai.

East part of the Northern Sea Route is the shortest transit line for delivering the Company’s metals from the place of their production to the consumers in South East Asia.

The trip from Dudinka to Shanghai takes 19-20 days as opposed to 60-65 days by conventional routes through European ports and Suez Canal. This is a considerable improvement for Chinese, Korean and other South Asian manufacturers.

The Company approached the issue of providing necessary conditions for metals’ transportation to the attractive markets of South East Asia as far back as 2005, when its own arctic fleet was under development and construction. Initially provided for technical specifications of the vessel (ARC7 ice class) make it possible today to ship metals by the most difficult Northern itineraries ensuring the highest safety levels.

Nowadays, there are five Arctic container vessels (ARC7 ice breakers of Norilsk Nickel type) at the Company’s disposal. The vessels meet the latest requirements in terms of technical and environmental safety. Their “Azipod” motors allow stern foremost movement in extremely difficult ice. The Company’s ships equipped with new double-action engines can navigate through Arctic ice independently, without additional icebreaker support.

On its way home from Shanghai to Dudinka, the ship is to transport materials and supplies for the Company’s plants as well as consumer goods for the residents of Norilsk industrial region.

Arrangement of this new transit line is an example of efficiently coordinated performance of several structural units of the Company including the departments of sales, logistics and procurement.

According to General Director of MMC Norilsk Nickel Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, “Running our vessels by the eastern part of Northern Sea Route is not only an important step towards further perfection of the Company’s transport and logistics business, but it also positively influences the integration of the Russian Federation into Eurasian transportation system».