Gateway cities

• Main Authors: Chambers, Claire, Sima, Ellen, Laubscher, Laetitia, Turnbull, Morag, Chen, Xu
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Antarctic; Austral; Christchurch; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Ushuaia; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14302

Chua et al. (2014) define an Antarctic gateway port as a coastal or island port, able by its proximity to the Antarctic to benefit from, and control access to, Antarctic and Southern Ocean resources, including fishing, tourism and scientific support. Minimal characteristics of such a port include: (i) managers who maintain political and scientific interests in Antarctica; (i) good deep-water facilities for refuelling and re-provisioning ships; (i) an international airport close by; and (i) local infrastructure developed to facilitate exchanges of commodities and people. For the purpose of this report, this definition is narrowed to include only those cities that were signatories to the 2009 Southern Rim Gateway Cities Agreement: Christchurch, Hobart, Cape Town, Ushuaia, and Punta Arenas (Statement of Intent Between the Southern Rim Gateway Cities to Antarctica 2009). This agreement underscores a commitment by the cities to cooperate and collaborate on Antarctic issues, such as science research, education and outreach initiatives, logistical frameworks, and business and tourism opportunities (Boekstein 2014). This statement of intent provides an interesting lens to analyse the Gateway Cities’ cooperation and competition with one another, as it lays down an active objective to work together. By confining our analysis to these five signatories, we are excluding other cities that could be considered Gateways under a looser definition. For example, China’s engagement with Antarctica has dramatically increased over the last decade, as they built a third base at Dome A and upgraded their other two stations (Brady 2010). Alongside this Antarctic development, they built an Antarctic research and logistics base in Shanghai during the Austral summer of 2008/09, which sees vessels departing for the Antarctic (Brady 2010). Over the coming years, as the Chinese Government continues to increase Antarctic spending and step up domestic focus on its Antarctic program (Brady 2010), Shanghai may feasibly become a recognized Gateway ...