Murmansk Shipping Company, often abbreviated as MSCO, was a Russian shipping company based in Murmansk. It was one of the primary shipping companies operating in Arctic Russia and northern Europe, in 2014 the company had 303 vessels, with a total dead weight of about 1.2 million tons. The company ran a notable museum in Murmansk.
History
The company was established in September 1939, by order of the People's Commissar of the Navy of the USSR, as the Murmansk State Dry-Cargo and Passenger Shipping Company (Мурманского государственного морского сухогрузного и пассажирского пароходства), a state-owned enterprise.[1] It was renamed in 1967. It specialised in arctic transportation, and by 1940 it had 37 vessels with a total deadweight of 112,200 tons.[2]
During World War II its carriers served as allied escorts. It performed passenger as well as cargo navigation.[3] In 1973, the Northern Fleet and the Murmansk Shipping Company commenced transporting spent nuclear fuel by barges to Murmansk, and then delivering it to Mayak by train.