Ebook: The 21st Century — Turning Point for the Northern Sea Route?: Proceedings of the Northern Sea Route User Conference, Oslo, 18–20 November 1999

by Claes Lykke Ragner, The Fridtjof Nansen Institute Marking the end of the International Northern Sea Route Programme (INSROP), the Northern Sea Route User Conference was organized in Oslo on 18-20 November 1999. The purpose of the Conference was two-fold. First, it was the intention of the organizers to present to the potential users of the Northern Sea Route - i. e. the international shipping industry and relevant cargo owners - the results of six years of multidisciplinary INSROP research. Second, it was the organizers' intention to create a unique meeting place for the different Northern Sea Route stakeholders - a forum where users, the Russian NSR administrators, the researchers and other interested parties could discuss the status and future of the route. In these Conference Proceedings, you will fmd the manuscripts of the speeches presented during the Conference: The manuscripts can roughly be divided into three groups with widely different focuses: On one hand, you will fmd the representatives of shipping and other commercial interests, focusing on the NSR's potential for profit in the short term, and on the shortcomings of the route. On the other hand, you will fmd representatives of different levels of Russian authorities, presenting the possibilities offered by the route, and emphasizing Russia's long experience in using and administrating it. In between these two groups stand the researchers, presenting a multi-faceted and hopefully balanced picture of the NSR and its possibilities vs.

---

The Northern Sea Route - the ice infested sea lanes running north of Siberia - can potentially cut sailing distances between Northwest Europe and Northeast Asia by as much as 50% compared with present routes. Further, the route passes some of the world's largest deposits of oil and gas.
Several recent multimillion dollar research programmes have investigated the route's commercial, technological and commercial feasibility. The results of this research were presented to the Northern Sea Route User Conference in Oslo, November 1999. The Conference was also told about new Russian policies on the route. The research results and Russian policy statements were assessed and commented on by representatives of international shipping organisations, who also proposed the shipping industry's own view of the commercial feasibility of the NSR.
The present book, derived from the Conference, discusses the question of international shipping on the NSR more comprehensively than has ever been witnessed before, not only as a matter of theoretical research but also as a practical matter, assessed in commercial, political and maritime terms.
Readership: All those interested in the NSR, whether as a business opportunity or an object of research or environmental concern.