White Sea–Baltic Canal had plans to carry 800,000 tonnes of fuel oil over the canal during 2003, and to increase the volume to in 2004. The fuel was transferred from Volgotanker river tankers to Latvian seagoing tankers at a floating transfer station near the Osinki Island in the Onega Bay of the White Sea, north-east of the port of Onega. Transfer operations began on 24 June 2003. But on 1 September 2003 a low-speed collision between Volgotanker's "Nefterudovoz-57M" and the Latvian "Zoja-I" during a transfer caused a crack in the "Nefterudovoz's" hull, with a subsequent oil spillage. Various estimates of the extent of
Arkhangelsk Oblast of the Northern Dvina and the Onega. The railroad construction gave the momentum to the population and exploitation of these areas. A branch from Konosha eastwards to Kotlas and further to Vorkuta was constructed in the 1940s to facilitate the transport of coal from the Komi Republic. From Kotlas, another branch continues south to Kirov. A branch from Obozersky to the west, to Onega and further to Belomorsk, was built during World War II to secure the transport of goods from the harbour of Murmansk to central Russia. A piece of railroad between Arkhangelsk and Karpogory was also built in