ARCTIC MARINE COMMERCE

The American interest in development of Arctic Marine Commerce was studied in the light of energy and hard mineral resource development to the year 2000. Estimated gas and oil reserves are substantial and will support multiple transport systems serving U.S. markets. If a marine system is developed to supplement planned pipelines, then some 21-33 icetransiting oil tankers with capacities of 245,000 DWT would be needed for operations from offshore terminals north of Alaska to the U.S. East Coast. The need for arctic LNG tankers was found to be contingent on the price of LNG imports and the availability of pipelines. Arctic ore carrier operations, which may begin as early as the late 1970's, will require three to seven bulk carriers to transport fluorite and copper to the U.S. mainland and coal to Japan in the 1980's and 1990's. While there are no major technology problems with respect to operating ships in the Arctic today, there are major technology gaps associated with building offshore terminals and deep water ports in arctic alaska. Community development associated with port operation will not likely follow the normal pattern of ports in temperate climates. It is probable that port communities will take the form of highly self-contained, modern work communities, small in size, and with high-speed transport subsitituted for a major resident citizenry--all staged out of existing Alaskan cities. Alaskan native corporation will increasingly be a source of investment capital and will play a major roll in the resident labor market and in supporting small business services.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Summary of Final Report.
• Corporate Authors:

  Arctic Institute of North America

  1619 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20009
• Publication Date: 1973-8

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 37 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cold weather; Icebreakers; Intermodal terminals; Operations; Shipping; Tankers
• Geographic Terms: Arctic Regions
• Old TRIS Terms: Arctic operations; Arctic shipping; Arctic terminals; Arctic transportation
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00048126
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Arctic Institute of North America
• Contract Numbers: DOC-2-36288
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 31 1973 12:00AM