A Ferry-tale Ending? : a comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability case for restoring ferry services from Reykjavík to Ísafjörður

The difficulty of solving the issue of rural depopulation and the accessibility of these same rural areas has long been interlinked. In Arctic and sub-arctic communities, where weather is more extreme and the smaller populations more dispersed, the issue is more pronounced. Such a situation can be f...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Robinson, Douglas, 1990-
Other Authors: Háskólinn á Akureyri
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Haf
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1946/42004
id ftskemman:oai:skemman.is:1946/42004
record_format openpolar
spelling ftskemman:oai:skemman.is:1946/42004 2023-05-15T15:03:47+02:00 A Ferry-tale Ending? : a comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability case for restoring ferry services from Reykjavík to Ísafjörður Robinson, Douglas, 1990- Háskólinn á Akureyri 2022-05 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1946/42004 en eng http://hdl.handle.net/1946/42004 Háskólasetur Vestfjarða Haf- og strandsvæðastjórnun Meistaraprófsritgerðir Dreifbýli Fólksfækkun Ferjur University Centre of the Westfjords Coastal and marine management Rural areas Transportation Ferries Thesis Master's 2022 ftskemman 2022-12-11T06:59:29Z The difficulty of solving the issue of rural depopulation and the accessibility of these same rural areas has long been interlinked. In Arctic and sub-arctic communities, where weather is more extreme and the smaller populations more dispersed, the issue is more pronounced. Such a situation can be found in the Westfjords of Iceland, where lack of year-round access affects the lives and livelihoods of residents and businesses alike. The lifeline of these communities was once the coastal shipping routes that ferried passengers and cargo to and from the region to the capital, Reykjavík. This thesis examines the feasibility of bringing back the connection by sea, in the modernised form of a cleaner energy fast ferry serving the region on a daily basis, as a method of strengthening the resilience of access to the Westfjords. It uses a mixed-methods approach including a cost-benefit analysis, an environmental scoping assessment, a survey to elicit willingness to pay from local residents and tourists, and incorporating the views of experts through interviews. The results show that while there is certainly a high level of demand for the theoretical service, and there are no major technical impediments, the economics do not strongly support its introduction at this stage. Only one out of six scenarios produced a positive Net Present Value. An argument can be made that the service may create its own demand over time, or economic advantages in other areas but this is unproven. Only a government subsidy is likely to make the service profitable. What is certain is that there is a lot of unhappiness with the current transport situation in these rural communities, especially from those businesses that rely on a daily connection to the capital, and solutions that go beyond what currently exists are badly needed to develop the Westfjords into a self-sustaining region. Það fylgja því miklir erfiðleikar að fólksfækkun í dreifbýli og aðgengi þessara dreifbýlissvæða haldist í hendur. Þetta þykir meira áberandi í samfélögum á ... Thesis Arctic Iceland Ísafjörður Reykjavík Reykjavík Skemman (Iceland) Arctic Haf ENVELOPE(-19.699,-19.699,64.145,64.145) Ísafjörður ENVELOPE(-22.467,-22.467,65.833,65.833) Reykjavík
institution Open Polar
collection Skemman (Iceland)
op_collection_id ftskemman
language English
topic Háskólasetur Vestfjarða
Haf- og strandsvæðastjórnun
Meistaraprófsritgerðir
Dreifbýli
Fólksfækkun
Ferjur
University Centre of the Westfjords
Coastal and marine management
Rural areas
Transportation
Ferries
spellingShingle Háskólasetur Vestfjarða
Haf- og strandsvæðastjórnun
Meistaraprófsritgerðir
Dreifbýli
Fólksfækkun
Ferjur
University Centre of the Westfjords
Coastal and marine management
Rural areas
Transportation
Ferries
Robinson, Douglas, 1990-
A Ferry-tale Ending? : a comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability case for restoring ferry services from Reykjavík to Ísafjörður
topic_facet Háskólasetur Vestfjarða
Haf- og strandsvæðastjórnun
Meistaraprófsritgerðir
Dreifbýli
Fólksfækkun
Ferjur
University Centre of the Westfjords
Coastal and marine management
Rural areas
Transportation
Ferries
description The difficulty of solving the issue of rural depopulation and the accessibility of these same rural areas has long been interlinked. In Arctic and sub-arctic communities, where weather is more extreme and the smaller populations more dispersed, the issue is more pronounced. Such a situation can be found in the Westfjords of Iceland, where lack of year-round access affects the lives and livelihoods of residents and businesses alike. The lifeline of these communities was once the coastal shipping routes that ferried passengers and cargo to and from the region to the capital, Reykjavík. This thesis examines the feasibility of bringing back the connection by sea, in the modernised form of a cleaner energy fast ferry serving the region on a daily basis, as a method of strengthening the resilience of access to the Westfjords. It uses a mixed-methods approach including a cost-benefit analysis, an environmental scoping assessment, a survey to elicit willingness to pay from local residents and tourists, and incorporating the views of experts through interviews. The results show that while there is certainly a high level of demand for the theoretical service, and there are no major technical impediments, the economics do not strongly support its introduction at this stage. Only one out of six scenarios produced a positive Net Present Value. An argument can be made that the service may create its own demand over time, or economic advantages in other areas but this is unproven. Only a government subsidy is likely to make the service profitable. What is certain is that there is a lot of unhappiness with the current transport situation in these rural communities, especially from those businesses that rely on a daily connection to the capital, and solutions that go beyond what currently exists are badly needed to develop the Westfjords into a self-sustaining region. Það fylgja því miklir erfiðleikar að fólksfækkun í dreifbýli og aðgengi þessara dreifbýlissvæða haldist í hendur. Þetta þykir meira áberandi í samfélögum á ...
author2 Háskólinn á Akureyri
format Thesis
author Robinson, Douglas, 1990-
author_facet Robinson, Douglas, 1990-
author_sort Robinson, Douglas, 1990-
title A Ferry-tale Ending? : a comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability case for restoring ferry services from Reykjavík to Ísafjörður
title_short A Ferry-tale Ending? : a comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability case for restoring ferry services from Reykjavík to Ísafjörður
title_full A Ferry-tale Ending? : a comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability case for restoring ferry services from Reykjavík to Ísafjörður
title_fullStr A Ferry-tale Ending? : a comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability case for restoring ferry services from Reykjavík to Ísafjörður
title_full_unstemmed A Ferry-tale Ending? : a comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability case for restoring ferry services from Reykjavík to Ísafjörður
title_sort ferry-tale ending? : a comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability case for restoring ferry services from reykjavík to ísafjörður
publishDate 2022
url http://hdl.handle.net/1946/42004
long_lat ENVELOPE(-19.699,-19.699,64.145,64.145)
ENVELOPE(-22.467,-22.467,65.833,65.833)
geographic Arctic
Haf
Ísafjörður
Reykjavík
geographic_facet Arctic
Haf
Ísafjörður
Reykjavík
genre Arctic
Iceland
Ísafjörður
Reykjavík
Reykjavík
genre_facet Arctic
Iceland
Ísafjörður
Reykjavík
Reykjavík
op_relation http://hdl.handle.net/1946/42004
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