Maritime transport throughout the Arctic region has undergone sustained, and in some parts, significant growth over the past decade. The continued decline of sea ice, the resulting improved access to natural resources, and new developments in ship technology are the primary drivers of increased shipping activity throughout the Arctic Ocean. In addition, geopolitical interests, improved infrastructure, and evolving regulatory frameworks continue to influence maritime activity in the region.
Natural resource developments along Russia’s Arctic coastline, both onshore and offshore, are the primary driver of increasing Arctic shipping activity, not only along the country’s Northern Sea Route, but increasingly also throughout Norway’s Arctic coastal waterways and the Alaskan waters of the Bering Strait. While a lot of attention vis-a-vis future Arctic maritime transport focuses on this particular type of destinational shipping, questions arise how or if North Norway and Alaska can economically benefit from this destinational traffic passing through their waters
and what shipping potential exists or can be developed locally.
This report is the end-product of Work Package (WP) 4, titled ‘Arctic Shipping and Maritime Transportation’. The explicit goal of this WP is to examine the capacity surplus and demand concerning shipping to, from and within, the Arctic waters of the United States (Alaska) and Norway (North Norway).
The following actors were involved in the WP: The Arctic Institute - Center for Circumpolar Security Studies (Washington, DC), Centre for High North Logistics (Kirkenes) and the Institute of the North (Anchorage).
The report can be downloaded in our Reports section.
