Murmansk region takes into account Belarusian cargo during the reconstruction of the transport hub – the regional government

The complex project of modernization of the Murmansk transport hub is being implemented taking into account the interests of Belarusian shippers to transship Belarusian goods through the northern port of Russia. This was reported by First Deputy Minister of Arctic Development and Economy of the Murmansk Region Artem Kuksa. First of all, the construction of the Belarusian port in the Kola Bay and the expansion of the transportation of Belarusian goods through the existing facilities of the port of Murmansk are tied to the expansion of railway approaches to the terminals.

The port of Murmansk has been cooperating with Belarusian shippers for a long time, Artem Kuksa reminded. The topic of transit of domestic goods through the port of the Russian North was the subject of negotiations between President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and Governor of the Murmansk region Andrei Chibis in March 2026. In 2024, the government of the Russian region signed an agreement with a Belarusian investor on the construction of a multifunctional complex on the western shore of the Kola Bay for transshipment of mineral fertilizers, oil products, as well as container and other cargo from Belarus.

- At the moment when we started working on the construction of the Belarusian port, there were some restrictions on carrying capacity (transport routes leading to the port of Murmansk). - Editor's note. And a comprehensive project for the development of the Arctic and the economy of the region is able to solve this problem not only for Belarusian cargo, but also for cargo traffic in the direction of Murmansk in general, said Artem Kuksa.

He said that the project of modernization of the transport hub is moving into the technical and economic plane. In particular, it is necessary to determine the scope of activities on the railway network, to understand the price and mechanism of the project.

- In fact, we are now beginning to do this in parallel with the rationale for the expansion of the railway in terms of projected freight flows. In particular, we take into account the cargoes of the Republic of Belarus in the technical part and the financial part of the project, the First Deputy Minister of Arctic Development and Economy of the Murmansk Region added.

The practical relevance of the northern route for Belarusian shippers was already confirmed in March this year, when during the difficult ice situation in the Gulf of Finland, the Murmansk Bulk Terminal received Belarusian potassium redirected from the Baltic, ensured its transshipment and shipment. An important circumstance for the potential cooperation of shippers of Belarus with the Murmansk port could be a change in the tariff policy: currently, the transit of goods to the Baltic ports is cheaper than to the North. However, the government of the Murmansk region takes the initiative to revise this state of affairs.

- Tariff policy of transportation is the subject of competence of the federal government, Russian Railways; there were appeals of the governor on this issue. This is a really difficult issue, it does not have any quick solution, it is a problem of calculations, dialogue, but such an appeal already exists, and we are working on it, said the first Deputy Minister of Arctic Development and Economy of the Murmansk region.

Commenting on the progress of the project on the construction of the terminal in the Kola Bay by the Belarusian investor, he noted that the process is ongoing. Work on the construction of the facility will take several years, said Artem Kuksa.

- The idea of building the Belarusian terminal is again tied to the expansion of railway approaches. And while it is being built, all the same, cargoes need to be transshipped, so in parallel, work is underway using existing capacities to start debugging this logistics, calculate that it works stably, and then switch it to a new path, he concluded.