The Northern Delivery plays an important role in the lives of residents living in the Far North, Siberia, the Far East and the European part of Russia. It provides the territories with vital goods in the run-up to the winter season. To be more precise, 21 regions of Russia, both Arctic and non-Arctic areas, hard-to-reach territories with severe climatic conditions..
The lack of production base for many goods in these regions, as well as the remoteness of industrial regions from the nearest infrastructure facilities by many thousands of kilometres, led to the fact that the Northern Delivery was singled out as a special type of delivery. Within it, goods are delivered by air, river and sea transport, including transportation via the Northern Sea Route.
In 2023, the federal law "On Northern Delivery" was adopted. It is expected that it will improve the reliability of goods supply, shorten delivery times and reduce the cost of goods in the North. The law defines concepts of the Territories of Northern Delivery and Territories with Limited Terms of Cargo Delivery. Besides, it introduces the division of cargo into categories, establishes priority in cargo handling depending on the category and provides for the creation of the Northern Delivery monitoring information system.
In addition, after the collapse of the USSR, the region authorities were in charge of regulation and funds allocated for the Northern Delivery. However, from 2026, the development and maintenance of the Northern Delivery infrastructure will be financed by the federal budget, rather than by regions and municipalities.
Thus, the law "On Northern Delivery" is expected to facilitate coordinated actions at the federal, regional and municipal levels of government, reduce the likelihood of supply disruptions and regulate prices for cargo transportation. The executive authorities of the regions were given the right to establish supply and trade mark-ups and set price limits for goods of the first category, i.e. essential goods. The regional authorities will also approve tariffs for transportation, unloading services and storage of such goods. The procedure for setting such mark-ups, prices and tariffs will be determined by the Government of the Russian Federation.
Sources:
Parlamentskaya gazeta [Parliamentary Newspaper]
The editorial board of The Arctic Century
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