After leaving the shipyard and entering commercial service, "Sevmorput" sailed through the Mediterranean and around Africa until finally reaching the Soviet Far East. However, authorities in Nakhodka, Vostochny, Magadan and Vladivostok refused to accept the two-month-old ship into their ports due to popular protests. In addition the harbour workers also refused to load or unload any cargo or provide any port services due to fears of radiation leakage. This was caused by uncertainty about the safety of the ship's nuclear propulsion system and the shadow of the Chernobyl disaster only few years earlier. The local newspapers had also reported a four-minute emergency on board the nuclear icebreaker "Rossiya" only a week before the arrival of "Sevmorput". The ship was finally allowed to dock at Vladivostok on 13 March 1989.