Modeling the profitability of liner Arctic shipping

• Main Author: Lasserre, Frédéric
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2020
• Subjects: Transports maritimes > Aspect économique; Profit > Comptabilité > Méthodes de simulation; Routes commerciales; Arctic; Arctique*; Northern Sea Route
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/37764; https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351037464

A significant share also analyze costs based on a single transit, which is consistent with the ad hoc service that is taking shape along the Northern Sea Route, but that does not picture adequately a possible regular service that could be set up during a whole shipping season for instance, and that would imply a loop service. The Arctic area is not considered profitable for container shipping during the winter time, thus the model works with a six-month sailing season. The different starting point thus accounts for a competitive advantage for the Arctic route in this scenario: a shorter route that enables the ship to make more rotations and a better fuel consumption per trip. The literature readily underlines that Arctic routes, being shorter, could imply a significant cost advantage because of a reduced fuel consumption, stemming both from a shorter distance and from a reduced speed.