The management of the Murmansk commercial sea port plans to service ships on the Northern Sea Route. Arctic.ru learnt about it from the port's General Director Alexei Rykovanov.

"We look at the prospects of developing the Northern Sea Route favorably. When the development program is implemented we will undoubtedly accept and service the ships which will be loaded at the Murmansk commercial sea port and to travel eastward," said Rykovanov.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an instruction to increase the cargo traffic on the Northern Sea Route to 80 million tons a year by 2024.

"Our goal to significantly boost the freight traffic and bring it up to 80 million tons by 2025 on the Northern Sea Route alone was outlined in the 2018 Address to the Federal Assembly. Just 10 to 15 years ago, this figure looked absolutely out of reach, whereas today it is a realistic, carefully calculated and concrete goal," the President said in April 2019.  

He added that as of 2018, the volume of traffic on the Northern Sea Route already reached 20 million tons.