Nornickel owns an advanced transport infrastructure capable of handling most challenging freight logistics tasks and ensuring sustainable operations of Group enterprises. Nornickel’s transport and logistics assets cover the full range of key transport and freight‑forwarding services.
Asset summary:
Sea fleet
6
heavy ice‑class vessels a sea‑class diesel port icebreaker
River fleet
369vessels
active core fleet
Aviation assets
18helicopters
Rail fleet
142 container flatcars
2 shunting vehicles
1shunting tractor
Aviation assets
Support the corporate and social activities in the local communities of the Taimyr Peninsula. The Company owns 18 helicopters and the airport in Norilsk, which is the only transport infrastructure on the Taimyr Peninsula that provides year‑round connections between the Norilsk Industrial District and other Russian regions.
An asset coordinating the operations of the Krasnoyarsk and Lesosibirsk ports and Yenisei River Shipping Company
Provide a strictly seasonal service due to the Yenisei River freezing over in winter. When ice conditions permit unrestricted navigation, the ports are used to transship Nornickel’s cargoes to Dudinka, including crushed stone, clinker, equipment, materials, and socially significant cargoes (as part of the Northern Deliveries programme).
Yenisei River Shipping Company
Provides the bulk of freight services on the Yenisei River, carrying both the Company’s and third‑party cargoes. It owns over 600 river vessels, including self‑propelled and towed ones. The fleet operates in the Yenisei, Angara, Nizhnyaya Tunguska, and Podkamennaya Tunguska Rivers and their largest tributaries.
The river port in Krasnoyarsk
One of the largest ports in the Yenisei basin. It transships cargoes delivered by road, rail, and water and provides ancillary services. The port has three operating areas – Yenisei, Zlobino, and Peschanka.
The river port in Lesosibirsk
Located 40 km downstream of the point of confluence of the Angara and Yenisei Rivers and downstream of the hard‑to‑navigate rapids. This secures the delivery of Nornickel’s cargoes at times of low water on the Yenisei River and the use of ships loaded to maximum capacity. The port’s unique benefits:
The only dedicated river port on the Yenisei River capable of handling explosives with a storage option
Offers year‑round service (rail‑to‑road and road‑to‑rail cargo transshipment services in between navigation periods)
A railway to Achinsk links Lesosibirsk to the Trans‑Siberian Railway
The Krasnoyarsk Transport Division
Responsible for the transportation and forwarding of Nornickel’s cargoes and for the carriage of precious metal concentrates.
The Murmansk Transport Division
Based in the year‑round ice‑free sea port of Murmansk.
The Dudinka Transport Division
Includes the Dudinka port and a fleet of port service vessels handling cargo transshipment for the production needs and residents of the Taimyr Peninsula.
The Arkhangelsk Transport Division
Responsible for smooth year‑round transshipment services for Nornickel’s cargoes via the Arkhangelsk sea port, which is conveniently linked to other Russian and foreign regions by road, air, and rail.
The Trans‑Baikal Transport Division
Arranges transportation of the Division’s products by rail from Gazimursky Zavod to Borzya.
Nornickel has a unique Arctic fleet capable of breaking through Arctic ice up to 1.5 m thick without icebreaker support, which enables the Company to provide year‑round dry and liquid cargo shipping services between sea ports.
In 2025, Nornickel also shipped liquid cargoes, including by the Company‑owned tanker, Yenisei. The transport services involved transfer of gas condensate from the Pelyatkinskoye field, delivery of petroleum products to the Norilsk Industrial District, and commercial trips to other destinations.
In addition to sea transportation with its own fleet of Arc7 heavy ice‑class vessels, the Company engages a fleet of lower ice‑class Arc4/Arc5 vessels to transport additional cargoes for major investment projects in Taimyr. Icebreaker escort is required in the Yenisei River, the Yenisei Bay, and the Kara Sea between November and May on an ongoing basis.
Nornickel signed a long‑term contract with ROSATOM (valid until 2041 and renewable until 2051) to engage a nuclear‑powered Project 22220 icebreaker with a shaft power of about 60 MW to make sure the Company’s strategic needs for icebreaker support are fully covered.
Liquid cargo shipments, ktIncludes a third‑party fleet.
Dry cargo transportation by fleet, mln tIncludes a third‑party fleet.
Dudinka portand the fleet of port service vessels
The assets are located on the Taimyr Peninsula. The Dudinka port is Taimyr’s main cargo gateway with no reasonable alternative. In addition, it is the world’s only port that gets flooded every year during the spring thaw. From November to May, the port’s water area and the Yenisei River freeze over. At this period, the Dudinka port handles seagoing vessels only, using icebreakers to de‑ice the berths and provide support during manoeuvring and mooring operations. In May, during the flood period, the service is suspended. In June, once the ice drift is over and the water has receded, vessel operations resume at both sea and river berths. The port transships cargoes for businesses and residents of the Taimyr Peninsula. In summer, river vessels deliver equipment and materials (sand, round timber, clinker, process materials, etc.) for production needs from Krasnoyarsk and Lesosibirsk. All year round, except for a short period of ice drifting on the Yenisei River, converter matte and metal products are shipped from Dudinka by sea.
To mitigate its environmental footprint, the Company implements programmes aimed at reducing fuel consumption and preventing contamination of the Dudinka and Yenisei Rivers.
Terminal
Nornickel’s own terminal in Murmansk ensures year‑round transshipment of the Company’s finished metal products for export, acceptance of converter matte from Dudinka and its shipment by rail to the Kola site, and shipment of industrial semi‑products to Dudinka as well as of cargoes to meet the needs of the Norilsk region. Along with sea transportation, the Company’s Murmansk‑based operations include transport and freight‑forwarding services, cargo transshipment and storage as well as railway services between Murmansk and Monchegorsk.
Thanks to its own airline and the airport in Norilsk, the Company provides air transport services to local communities across the Taimyr Peninsula. The air carrier operates a fleet of eighteen Mi‑8 helicopters providing air services related to the operations of the Norilsk Nickel Group, emergency medical flights, search and rescue operations, and passenger services.
