What is Arctic Bridge Sea Route?

The Arctic Bridge is a major polar shipping route that spans between North-western Russia and the Canadian heartland.

The Arctic Sea Bridge route is extremely crucial as an alternate maritime transportation route integrating the Asian business markets with the American and European ones.

The principal harbors catered to by sea route are located in the township of Churchill Canada, on the route’s western side and the harbor in the Russian city of Murmansk on its eastern shores.

The trade route owes its initiation, development and sustenance to the Canadian developmental authorities and privately owned companies.

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It was however only during the latter part of 20th century (late 1990s) that an understanding was reached between the Russian and Canadian authorities to allow the transiting of cargo ships through the sea route.

Arctic Sea Bridge: Need and Impact

The impacts of the polar shipping route to the global marine sector can be explained as follows:

Faster cargo movement in the Northern-most regions of the globe
Better trade connectivity between certain Asian nations with their developed western counterparts
Economic development and sustenance of some of the regional and isolated provinces by opening alternate trade channels

However a major challenge facing the marine sector with respect to the sea route is that of the limited time-span for operations. For eight months in a year, the Arctic Sea Bridge is non-operational on account of the harsh weather conditions in the Arctic. The shorter operational time-span has certainly impacted the utility value of the trade route. But at the same time this factor has not reduced its viability.

Role of Churchill Canada in the Development of the Arctic Sea Bridge

Churchill is located in the city of Manitoba in the central region of Canada. The province is quite disconnected by major roadways and railways that span through the rest of the country but boasts of the country’s only natural harbor Churchill Canada thus forms one of the major maritime stopovers for both internal and international maritime traffic.

The Manitoban governmental authorities have planned to come up with several developmental projects in collaboration with private Canadian companies and the Russian governmental agencies. These steps have been taken so as to ensure the prosperity of the region while aiding necessary international maritime passage.

References: typepad, centreportcanada, larouchepac, arcticbridge

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