The Northern Sea Route (NSR) offers immense opportunities for India’s maritime sector, particularly in logistics and port management, a top maritime expert has said.

India realized the potential of the NSR, or the Arctic route, almost two decades ago, when it sent the first expedition to the Arctic in 2007, Anurag Bisen told RT India.

New Delhi set up its first permanent research station, Himadri, in the Arctic the next year.

“India has been actually looking at the Arctic for some time now, which was crystallized by the release of the government of India’s Arctic policy [in 2022],” he said.

He said India had offered a $1 billion line of credit to help fund projects in Russia’s Far East.

“India’s biggest ever investments in hydrocarbons are in Russia to the tune of more than $15 billion. India’s stakes in Sakhalin are very profitable,” the former Indian Navy submariner said.

“When President (Vladimir) Putin came to Delhi, we signed the agreement for the training of seafarers. In 2024, India and Russia set up a joint working group on cooperation on the NSR,” he said.

Bisen added that the Arctic can emerge as a new pillar of cooperation “spanning space, defense, energy, and so many other sectors.”

Pointing to the new opportunities, he said demand for Indian seafarers would multiply as the route opens. India is now the second-largest supplier of seafarers in the world.

“That is one of the reasons why India signed an agreement with Russia on training of Indian seafarers on polar navigation,” he said.

Bisen said the NSR will open up more than 20 ports. “We could man those ports, acquire those ports. We could get into port management.” 

As the NSR opens up, India’s Hydrographic Department can also use its expertise to map water depth, coastlines, underwater hazards and navigable channels.

“We have agreements with several countries where we develop the hydrographic charts,” he said, adding that India and Russia have developed hydrographic charts in Antarctica, and can jointly develop the same for the Arctic. 

Almost one-third of India’s crude supplies originate in Russia. Bisen said if India can get the Russian oil from the country’s Far Eastern to ports on India’s eastern coast, these “would be far less prone to disruption.”

The Chennai-Vladivostok maritime corridor was announced in 2019 and declared operational last year, with this strategic intent. Bisen also pointed to the need to upgrade the infrastructure on India’s eastern seaboard.

This is vital to ensure that “we are not as dependent and vulnerable on critical choke points such as Bab-el-Mandeb and Hormuz,” he said.