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Erschienen in:
2018 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel
Maritime Passages of the Future
verfasst von : Heather A. Conley, Matthew Melino
Erschienen in: Arctic Summer College Yearbook
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Abstract
Significant diminishment of the Arctic ice cap is propelling the advent of a new, blue water ocean and, with it, new commercial and economic opportunities. Abundant natural and mineral resources, as well as rich fishing stocks, encourage Arctic and non-Arctic nations to explore these resources through the enhanced use of Arctic maritime transportation routes which seek to connect geographically distant economies more directly. As a result, the evolving commercial dynamics of international Arctic shipping – both destinational and trans-shipment – are beginning to change. Once considered dangerous and non-commercial, Arctic shipping routes such as the Northern Sea Route (NSR) are increasingly scrutinized as potential economical alternatives to some of the world’s most popular maritime passages.
While nations like Russia are ambitious in their desire to see the Northern Sea Route become a “Suez of the North,” the United States has taken a more tempered approach to the region’s development, focusing on environmental protection. Although some maritime experts question whether the Northern Sea Route, and by extension the Bering Strait, will ever become a viable international maritime passage, a slow yet steady increase in global demand for natural, mineral, and fisheries resources will likely see the Northern Sea Route and Bering Strait experience a consistent increase in maritime traffic. Therefore, it is both a policy imperative and an opportune moment to construct the necessary infrastructure to improve readiness and domain awareness in the Bering Strait, to safely accommodate a likely increase in maritime traffic, and to strengthen U.S.-Russian cooperation in the Arctic.