On December 7-8, the XIII International Forum “Arctic: Today and the Future” is held in St. Petersburg. FSUE “Rosmorport” is represented in business events of the forum by Kirill Gaida, Deputy General Director for Navigation Safety, and Vladimir Shtrambrand, Assistant to General Director.

During the conference “Northern Sea Route-365?” Kirill Gaida shared the experience of FSUE “Rosmorport” in ensuring the navigation safety in the Arctic basin, emphasizing in his report that the Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and North-Eastern Basin branches of the enterprise operate in this area. FSUE “Rosmorport” provides a whole range of services in the seaports: pilotage, icebreaking, towage, dredging, geodesic, hydrographic services, navigation services with the use of vessel traffic systems (VTS), communication services, ice advisors and captain's advisors services, services on training for pilots on vessels, services on production, installation, repair and maintenance of navigation equipment.

Navigation and hydrographic support in the Arctic basin of the Russian Federation is a part of the navigation safety system. In the waters of the seaports of the Arctic basin and on approaches to them, there are 577 units of navigation equipment, 267 of which are coastal aids to navigation and 310 ones are beacons. In 2023, the enterprise carried out an area survey of 10,800.5 hectares in the region.

The VTS under economical management and operation of FSUE “Rosmorport” in this area include Kola Gulf VTS, Kandalaksha Gulf VTS, Arkhangelsk VTS, Magadan VTS, Sabetta VTS and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky VTS, which was built in 2023.

All VTS of the enterprise are operated by highly qualified personnel. There are operators who have completed all necessary professional training, including training on simulators, have passed qualification exams to the captain of the corresponding seaport and have got a VTS operator certificate, as well as engineering and technical personnel consisting of specialists who ensure the operation of all equipment systems around the clock. All in all, there are about 90 VTS specialists in the Arctic Basin.

At the end of his speech, Kirill Gaida spoke about the technology of virtual navigation equipment which is used by automated information system (AIS) coast stations in the water areas of seaports. They help not only to organize monitoring of vessels traffic and vessels mooring in roadsteads, but also to set “virtual buoys” on a shipway at given coordinates. The virtual buoys are displayed on the screens of the vessel’s electronic mapping system and provide assistance to navigators when the vessel passes through the port water area. As part of the development of navigation safety systems using modern digital control and data transmission systems, the FSUE “Rosmorport” Arkhangelsk Branch is constructing an autonomous remotely controlled AIS coast station with virtual navigation equipment in the seaport of Mezen. The station is planned to be put into operation in 2024.

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The events of the XIII International Forum “The Arctic: Today and the Future” traditionally bring together over 2,000 Russian and foreign government officials, heads of strategic companies, financial and service enterprises, developers and manufacturers of technologies, leading experts of the scientific community, journalists and public figures. During the two-day business agenda, delegates discuss decisions on the social and economic development of the Arctic zone, present current domestic projects and researches, and assess the investment potential of the northern regions.

The forum is organized by the Association of Polar Explorers, the organizing committee is chaired by Artur Chilingarov, president of the Association, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for International Cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic, member of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.