The Northern Sea Route versus the Suez Canal: cases from bulk shipping

Halvor Schøyen and Svein Bråthen

Journal of Transport Geography, 2011, vol. 19, issue 4, 977-983

Abstract: The navigation distance via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) from a Northwest-European port to the Far East is approximately 40% shorter compared to the route via the Suez Canal. The shorter distance may facilitate more than a doubling of vessels’ operational energy efficiency performance. There is at present substantial uncertainty in schedule reliability via the NSR. Unless the schedule reliability is improved, the NSR should primarily be explored for bulk rather than for liner shipping. A major disadvantage with the NSR is its seasonality. Shipping operations in the summer time via the NSR may already today be profitable for minor bulk trades. Additional shipping routes may give more flexibility, and the NSR route choice option may facilitate supply chain agility and adaptability.

Keywords: Northern Sea Route; International bulk shipping; Green logistics; Energy efficiency; Supply chain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096669231100024X

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:19:y:2011:i:4:p:977-983

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2011.03.003

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Transport Geography is currently edited by Frank Witlox

More articles in Journal of Transport Geography from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().