How attractive is the Northern Sea Route for container shipping? An economic model

• Main Authors: Faury, Olivier, Cheaitou, Ali, Etienne, Laurent, Fedi, Laurent, Rigot-Muller, Patrick, Stephenson, Scott
• Other Authors: Métis Lab EM Normandie, École de Management de Normandie (EM Normandie), University of Sharjah (UoS), Knowledge Learning and Information Modelling (LABISEN-KLAIM), Laboratoire ISEN (L@BISEN), Institut supérieur de l'électronique et du numérique (ISEN)-YNCREA OUEST (YO)-Institut supérieur de l'électronique et du numérique (ISEN)-YNCREA OUEST (YO), Kedge Business School (Kedge BS), National University of Ireland Maynooth (Maynooth University), University of Connecticut (UCONN)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: [INFO.INFO-MO]Computer Science [cs]/Modeling and Simulation; Arctic; Murmansk; Northern Sea Route
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03354313; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03354313/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03354313/file/How%20attractive%20is%20the%20Northern%20Sea%20Route%20for%20container%20shipping%20An%20economic%20model%20IAME%202019.pdf

International audience Every year, COSCO sends a vessel with containers through the Arctic. This year, Maersk followed suit with the voyage of the 3,956 TEU vessel, Venta. Meanwhile, Arctic shipping hubs are being planned, such as at the ice-free port of Murmansk. Currently, cargo shipped through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is composed of raw materials from oil and gas exploitation, a market subject to volatile prices and finite resources. However, sustainable economic development cannot not be based entirely on commodities with these characteristics and that depend on international market volatility. Thus, the shipment of manufactured goods along the NSR may be the next step in its evolution. Academics agree on the general decline in ice extent and thickness; yet, variability in ice conditions and poorly charted bathymetry in shallow waters may hamper the development of the NSR as a periodic shipping lane for containers.