Moscow to Rule Northern Sea Route
Deputy Minister of Transport Victor Olerskyz informed that the Northern Sea Route will be administrated from Moscow. The new headquarters for the Northern Sea Route (NSR) will open in Moscow on January 28 2013. A representative office may be opened in Arkhangelsk later, according to the 'Barents Observer'. The Northern Sea Route is becoming a more and more important route for transportation of cargo between Europe and Asia. 2012 was a record season both in relation to the amount of cargo and the number of vessels. 46 vessels sailed the route in 2012, compared to 34 in 2011 and only four in 2010. The total cargo transported on the NSR last year was 1 261 545 tons – a 53 percent increase from 2011, when 820 789 tons was shipped on the route.
Damen Delivers 3 Dredges
Damen Shipyards delivers three Cutter Suction Dredgers to Azerbaijan. On 24 January 2012 Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards delivered three Cutter Suction Dredgers of its CSD 500 series to the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) in Azerbaijan. After delivery, President Ilham Aliyev and Minister of Emergency Situations Kamaladdin Heydarov examined the dredgers at the premises of the Yacht Club in Baku. Damen representatives briefed the President and his party on the functions and features of the CSD 500 and on the expanding production programme of the Damen Shipyards Group. MES ordered the three Damen dredgers to avoid repetition of the events that occurred as result of the Kura River bursting its banks in previous years.
