Thursday, September 17, 2020

Russia's Creaky Old Nuclear Containership Is Back To Running Fish In the Arctic

I'm starting to think this is some sort of "Dead Hand" weapon, probably pointed at Helsinki as retribution for the Winter War.
Let it go Russki dudes, let it go.

From The Barents Observer:

Sevmorput sails Northern Sea Route loaded to less than one-fifth of capacity
The nuclear-powered container ship is now en route from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka to St. Petersburg with fish, after president Putin earlier this year instructed the voyage to be carried out. 
Sevmorput left the port in Russia’s Far East on September 8, loaded with 206 refrigerated containers with fish, according to Rosatomflot, the state-owned operated of the vessel.

Total capacity on board, though, is 1,328 containers at a maximum weight of 36,000 tons. The fish now on its way to Russia’s European market is 6,500 tons, Rosatomflot informs. Regional news agency Kamchatka-Inform claims the cargo to be only 5,500 tons.

Sailing the nuclear-powered container vessel all across the Arctic and around Scandinavia to St. Petersburg is more of a political statement than it is a profitable business....
....MORE

Previously:
May 2020
Putin Wants to Haul More Fish Along the Northern Sea Route
I'm not sure what the Russians are up to with this but I'm pretty sure that it's not because moving our finny friends thousands of miles by ship suddenly got more economical. And especially not if they use the ancient nuclear-powered container ship pictured in the story.
As noted in one of last years posts (they are multiple) on the topic:

September 11, 2019
"Norway Would Like To Know If Russia Plans To Make More Salmon Hauling Trips With Their Nuclear Container Ship":
....If only there was some sort of land based transportation mode that could make the trip, something that crossed Siberia, Trans-Siberian if you will, that was comprised of individual cars that could be hooked up in train.  And get the damn salmon to Moscow in days not weeks.

Maybe put 'em on a boat in Petropavlovsk and sail them across the Sea of Okhotsk to Sovetskaya Gavan, whose harbormasters are (reputedly) eminently bribable and will speed your multi-modal perishables on their way west to wind up in some fat mafioso's belly. Ditto for Vladivostok but you'll need to wave a bit more cash to get anyone's attention....
 ....MUCH MORE