Transportation systems in the Arctic: A systematic literature review using textometry

• Main Authors: Lavissière, Alexandre, Sohier, Romain, Lavissière, Mary C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Arctic; North West Passage; Northern Sea Route
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856420307096

Changes in the climatic conditions in the Arctic are opening new trading routes (Northern Sea Route & North West Passage) in this area. There is a growing importance of this theme in the conversation amongst transportation scholars. Indeed, the academic conversation about Arctic transportation is becoming a field of research in itself. The aim of this study is to look at this conversation and provide a state-of-the-art of Arctic transportation systems. The investigation is based on a systematic literature review of peer reviewed articles dealing with transportation and the Arctic. The corpus composed of 386 articles about Arctic transportation is studied from a textometric perspective and compared with professional press to identify gaps between concerns of professionals and scholars’ research. Results show a growing body of research with a strong node of experts. Their research covers operations and sustainable development of shipping and port activities along the Arctic routes. We also identify five major areas for further investigation: the tactical perspective and management approach of issues in the field, risk management in general, logistic systems to access to the Arctic routes, major clustering projects development in the area and management of specific fleets required by the extreme conditions. Arctic; Northern Sea route; North west passage; Shipping; Ports; Literature review;