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 most of these became unprofitable and have been destroyed. In the 1970s and 1980s the aviation was active, with all district centers connected to Arkhangelsk with regular flights, Kotlas being the second important hub. Currently, it has almost disappeared. There are two airports in Arkhangelsk, but regular local flights are only carried out to the destinations which do not have rail or road connections, such as Novaya Zemlya, Solovetsky Islands, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Onega Peninsula, and the north of the oblast. The exceptions with functioning airports are Mezen, Leshukonskoye, and Onega. The oil transport system, Baltic Pipeline System,