SIMIC

OVER the past decade, a fleet of dredging vessels from the Netherlands and Belgium have been crucial in deepening Russia's Arctic waters, allowing for shipping along the Northern Sea Route and the transport of oil and gas resources from projects in the Ob river delta, reports High North News, Bodo, Norway.
However, following western sanctions, these dredging operators' fleets will no longer return to the Arctic, leaving Russia to rely on its limited domestic fleet of aging dredging ships.
This lack of capacity may hinder Russia's ability to expand oil and gas projects at full speed.
The dredging of more than a hundred square kilometers of the ocean floor in the Arctic ecosystem is a concern, as its impact on marine life remains largely unknown.
Nonetheless, Russia's Hydrographic Company, a subsidiary of Rosatom, plans to move 13.5 million cubic meters of material this summer, primarily in the Gulf of Ob, to deepen port infrastructure and shallow river deltas.
This figure represents 36 per cent of all dredging planned in Russia during 2023.
The national effort to build more dredging vessels will take years, but the Hydrographic Company's multi-year plan to create a shipping channel to the Utrenny terminal involves the removal of 60 million cubic meters of material by the end of 2024 at a cost of US$540 million.
"Up to now, a Belgian company, DEME, the world leader in this field, has carried out some of this dredging work. With the European sanctions, Russia has announced that it wants to set up its own dredging service," said French Maritime Academy (ENSM) chief professor of maritime education Herve Baudu.