Sea Ice Melting Opens New Options for Shipping in Arctic Ocean

Rising temperatures in the Arctic and melting sea ice are revealing new options for shipping in the Arctic Ocean. The littoral states will consequently be adapting the plans for their ports in the near future. In Iceland, the changes focus on a new location in the north-east of the island. Planning experts and engineers from bremenports have been invited to contribute their experience and will play a central role in developing the new port.

 The immense interest in developing the Arctic was evident at the Arctic Circle Assembly held in Iceland in mid- October 2013. More than 1200 representatives from the sectors of politics, business and science, environmental protection and media, as well as representatives of indigenous Nordic nations attended the conference in Reykjavik.

The aim of the Arctic Circle is to facilitate dialogue and promote networking in response to the changing situation in the Arctic. These changes have already generated interest throughout the world and provide new opportunities and new challenges for everyone involved. The Arctic Circle is intended to strengthen decision-making processes by ensuring that as many international stakeholders as possible gather together to exchange ideas and information in one joint forum.

It was largely thanks to the commitment of Iceland’s President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson that the conference came about. Robert Howe, Ernst Schroeder and Ulrich Filbrandt represented bremenports at the event.

The increasing attractiveness of the Arctic as a place to live and an economic area was also reflected in the diverse origins of the attendees. In addition to the six “genuine” littoral Arctic nations (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Canada and the USA), the conference was also attended by a further 34 countries, some of which already conduct their own polar research and have a keen interest in the economic development of this region. Accordingly, the conference agenda was extremely comprehensive and diverse.

The growing attention to this region that has recently arisen can be attributed to the rising temperatures and prolonged frost-free periods, which are causing the ice pack to decline. These developments not only provide access to new deposits of natural resources (oil, gas and minerals), but also reveal attractive opportunities for trade and shipping on routes through the Arctic. The sea routes from China, Japan or South Korea to Europe through the North-East Passage are significantly shorter than those through the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal, enabling considerable savings in time, fuel and costs. Since the beginning of international merchant shipping, the number of transits along the Russian Arctic Ocean coast has increased from 2 in 2009 to 71 in 2013.

For the conference, bremenports had prepared a presentation on the Finna Fjord port project in cooperation with the Icelandic engineering company EFLA. The event was well attended and the audience showed considerable interest in the project. The conference also provided an opportunity for comprehensive discussions with delegations from Alaska, China and Germany, as well as politicians and experts from Iceland. These talks concentrated particularly on technical aspects of port planning.

The new port at Finna Fjord would perform several tasks: it could be a centre for installation, equipment and supplies to the Icelandic oil and gas exploratory and drilling rigs. The ice-free port could also be used to store raw materials from these sources and from Greenland and to process them ready for further transport. It could serve as a base for important search and rescue functions (SAR) for shipping (merchant, fishing, cruise and research vessels). At a later date, it could also evolve into a hub for container traffic in the Arctic Ocean and finally, it could potentially attract industries which would benefit from the good energy sources in Iceland.

Bremenports, December 18, 2013; Image: ABB