The report “Development of marine Russian-Norwegian trade facilities in Northern Norway” has studied the development potential for the main ports of northern Norway. The report is written by Norwegian Akvaplan Niva and the St. Petersburg company Gecon, with support from the Norwegian Barents Secretariat and Maritime Forum, informs the 'Barents Observer'. The amount of cargo transport of raw materials through the Barents Sea is already at a significant level. Russia’s increased activity in the Arctic, the growth of commercial traffic through the northern sea route and more offshore petroleum activity in Russia are all important factors to the expected growth in traffic from Northwest Russia through the Barents Sea.