Arctic Maritime

A combination of global change and oil and gas development in the Barents Sea and other areas of the Arctic promises to bring major changes in marine transportation in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas.  Closer to home, the dramatic rise in transit shipping through the Bering Sea from East Asia to North America makes this the busiest shipping lane in Arctic waters.

The Institute of the North is a member of the Russian "Noncommercial Partnership of the Coordination of Northern Sea Route Usages" and works closely with the group and other shipping interests in the Arctic.

Works

The Institute of the North, with Senior Fellow Dr. Lawson Brigham, co-edited the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment, a major project of the Arctic Council under the Protection of Marine Environment (PAME) working group. This assessment is a direct follow-up to the Arctic Marine Strategic Plan and the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, and has be widely distributed and well received.

The international gathering at the Arctic Marine Transport Workshop included 54 experts from 11 countries (United States, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, Finland, Germany and Japan) representing marine research institutions, transportation ministries, national ice centers, ship designers and builders, ship classification experts, international marine transport economists and social scientists. The Institute of the North sponsored the final report which was distributed through the Arctic Council across many major arctic venues.