About 14 bylaws are needed to implement the northern freight shipping program, said the Chair of the State Duma Committee on the Development of the Far East and Arctic, Nikolai Kharitonov, at a key session on northern freight shipping, part of the 8th Eastern Economic Forum.

“We have drafted a plan to successfully implement the new law on Northern Freight Shipping, and I am convinced that we will fulfill it. All of our northern territories will be receiving foodstuffs, other staple goods, medications and construction materials on a timely basis and at a cheaper price,” Kharitonov noted.

He also listed the issues linked with the successful implementation of northern freight shipping. The list includes the use of double-hulled ships, expanding the capacity of the railway system to deliver goods from European Russia, construction of river docks, and offering larger subsidies to Russian companies to reimburse them for comprehensive projects to develop,  create and produce ship equipment and components.

“Today, the northern freight shipping system supplies 25 regions. The Republic of Sakha Yakutia traditionally accounts for 55 percent of these shipments, followed by the Kamchatka Territory and Chukotka with 18 percent and almost 10 percent, respectively. This shipping system serves 206 municipal districts, over 3 million people and handles over 3 million metric tons of vital goods. This is why efforts to facilitate uninterrupted shipping to the northern territories are an important condition of sustainable national development,” Nikolai Kharitonov noted.