This follows Russian President Vladimir Putin's earlier speech in Vladivostok saying the Northern Sea Route "must not be delayed."

"We must carefully, but without delay, consider the perspectives of such a transport corridor, this is an extraordinarily important issue," said Mr Putin, adding that it "constitutes the future for international shipping between Asia and Europe."

Said Arctic Minister Chekunkov: "Next year, we must open the first regular voyages with goods, including containers, between Vladivostok and St Petersburg, in order to test out route and establish a goods basis."

"The Northern Sea Route must become a global transport corridor, and that will only happen when we launch regular container shipments from the Far East to Murmansk or St Petersburg," he said in an interview with Moscow newspaper RBC.

Mr Chekunkov also expects the route to expand from its present eight-month navigation season to year-round operation in five years and to eventually reach profitability.

Mr Chekunkov said trans-Arctic container traffic is crucial for the successful development of the Northern Sea Route, and active measures must be taken in order to get things going.

He said subsidies will be necessary in the initial phase. "After all, the traditional shipping companies still have a lack of confidence in the new route," he said.

He was referring to the route's rejections from CMA CGM and Maersk's after test runs in 2019. Cosco has expressed confidence in the future of the route, but little has been reported other than an expression of interest.

According to the Russian minister, shipments on the Northern Sea route should not be more expensive than imposed by the already heavily subsidised railway route from China through Russian to western Europe.

"We are aiming at a model which includes subsidised container shipments on a testing base already from 2022," he told RBC. "In the initial phase, the shipments will be unprofitable for the operators and the government will cover the losses," he said.

Mr Chekunkov is confident that the route ultimately will become profitable.

"The strategic logic is to boost shipping volumes and efficiency in order to later on sail on the Northern Sea Route with profits under Russian flag," he said. "Then this will become a true alternative to the southern route."

Russian authorities are actively promoting the Arctic shipping route both domestically and internationally, and aim at boosting annual shipping volumes to 80 million tons by 2024.

The building of the new Lider-class icebreakers will be a key component in the process. Currently, ships make trans-Arctic voyages on the route only about eight months of the year.