The Russian Ministry of Economic Development released figures recently which show that shipments on Russia’s Northern Sea Route through November 2016 reached 6.9 million tons, a new post-Soviet high.

A Russian official says that increased volumes in the Arctic requires a larger traffic coordinating role. Dmitry Rogozin, a deputy prime minister and chair of the Arctic Commission, a Russian government agency, said that role should be delegated to the Northern Sea Route Administration, an office currently responsible for monitoring ship traffic and granting shipping permits.

“The administration should be not only a service which keeps track of shiploads, but also a service which has an organizing role, which attracts leading global shipping companies to the Northern Sea Route,” said Rogozin, according to local news reports.

Rogozin’s ultimate idea is to transform the Northern Sea Route Administration into an Arctic transportation ministry of sorts.

That proposal could be on the agenda when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the port of Arkhangelsk on the Barents Sea to attend an Arctic conference in March 2017.

Many of the shipments over the Northern Sea Route are destined to the Yamal Peninsula and the Yamal LNG project and Novy Port. More than nine million tons of goods have been sent to the site over the last couple of years through Sabetta, a new seaport serving the Yamal LNG project.

Dmitry Rogozin openly criticized government bodies and ministries, and in particular the Ministry of Transportation, for their lack of coordination in the Arctic. He found the Transport Ministry’s new strategy document for development of Arctic transport infrastructure inadequate and blasted the Ministry of Economic Development for failing to deliver an updated version of a social and economic development program for the region.