Arctic route - cool idea with chilling concerns

IT MAY seem incongruous to be talking about shipping in the Arctic in the balmy climes of Singapore, but that was what the president of the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) did last week.

Esben Poulsson, speaking at an Arctic Frontiers organisation event in his capacity as SSA chief and as chair of the global shipowners organisation International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), identified three main areas of opportunity there for shipping:

Singapore may be in the tropics, but, as one of the world's largest maritime flag states, its shipowners would have an obvious interest in such business opportunities.

And this is underscored by the fact that the Republic is a permanent observer in the Arctic Council and an important player in the United Nations' International Maritime Organization (IMO).

While of course there are ships operating in the Arctic Ocean off the shores of North America, Mr Poulsson focused on the Northern Sea Route off the Russian coast, which can be used to link Asia and Europe.

Alarm bells

Talk about shipping in these parts invariably trips off alarm bells in the offices of environmental organisations. The first thing against it is that navigation there during the summer months is possible only because of their No. 1 enemy, global warming.

Secondly, shipping itself has attracted considerable - albeit unjustified - suspicion that it is a dirty, pollutive industry.

Add to these two factors the reason for navigation in the region are anathema to the green lobby - oil and gas production and mining.

Mr Poulsson addressed those concerns right off the bat, saying that the shipping industry is fully aware of its responsibilities for maintaining very highest standards of safety and environmental protection.

He said: "We fully recognise the special sensitivities surrounding Arctic shipping, but we take our responsibilities very seriously, wherever in the world our ships may be operating.

Thirty years ago, we typically had about 25 or 30 serious pollution incidents worldwide every year. While our goal is to get this to zero, today we have only one or two such incidents each year, despite a truly massive increase in the number of ships and shipping movements globally."

He also put the dangers of the Arctic into perspective, noting that despite the remoteness of the region and the obvious risks presented by sea-ice, the operating conditions which merchant ships routinely confront in the North Atlantic are actually far worse.

Using the Northern Route has caught the imagination of many, and provided good stories for the press.

But Mr Poulsson added: "But while the situation may change if the ice sheet continues to recede, the current importance of the Northern Sea Route should probably not be exaggerated.

Commercial transits are now regularly taking place in the ice-free summer months - something that was impossible even a few years ago.

Depending on the destination, voyage times between Asia and Europe can be almost halved - but we are still talking about only 40 complete transits a year, and there were only 19 last year. (To put this in context, there were about 50,000 transits via the Suez Canal.)

Mr Poulsson added: "Moreover, the need to employ the services of very expensive Russian ice breakers, and operate with special ice-class ships at slower speeds means that the Northern Sea Route is probably only viable for ships trading to ports north of Shanghai.

"This may change in the future, but the main focus of much of the industry is primarily increased destination shipping, and any possible expansion of support-vessel activity servicing the offshore energy industry."

A niche activity

In other words, Arctic shipping is going to remain a niche activity, and probably not one that will attract many Singapore-based ship operators. Nevertheless, the shipping industry absolutely needs to get everything right in those unforgiving waters and to ensure strong environmental protection.

Mr Poulsson said: "Through the IMO, we already enjoy a comprehensive global regulatory framework that applies throughout the Arctic region. The new Polar Code, which entered into force in January, should deliver a further level of confidence, using a risk-based approach that addresses hazards relevant to the type of ship operation, the ship's location and the season of operation.

"The MARPOL Convention for pollution prevention, which now embraces the new IMO Polar Code, has been ratified by virtually every maritime nation and is enforced across the entire world fleet, supported by a sophisticated global system of port state inspections. This makes non-compliance exceedingly difficult, especially in the waters of Arctic coastal states, which have very robust enforcement systems."

He added that the biggest challenge to increased navigation in Arctic waters is how to provide suitable coverage for search and rescue and - "if ever needed" - the necessary response capability to oil pollution.

It is certainly a good idea to keep an eye on what is happening in the Northern Sea Route. While the Russians are bound to keep the lead in developing this route, there could well be opportunities to invest in commercially interesting projects.

But the Arctic is not for the faint-hearted.