Northern marine transportation corridors: Creation and analysis of northern marine traffic routes in Canadian waters (original) (raw)
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ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 2020
In 2014, through the World-Class Tanker Safety System (WCTSS) initiative, the Government of Canada launched the Northern Marine Transportation Corridors (NMTC) concept. The corridors were created as a strategic framework to guide Federal investments in marine transportation in the Arctic. With new government investment, under the Oceans Protection Plan (OPP), the corridors initiative, known as the Northern Low-Impact Shipping Corridors, will continue to be developed. Since 2016, the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) has been using the corridors as a key layer in a geographic information system (GIS) model known as the CHS Priority Planning Tool (CPPT). The CPPT helps CHS prioritize its survey and charting efforts in Canada’s key traffic areas. Even with these latest efforts, important gaps in the surveys still need to be filled in order to cover the Canadian waterways. To help further develop the safety to navigation and improve survey mission planning, CHS has also been exploring...
Managing Resources and Sea Routes in the Arctic Looking to the Future
Managing Resources and Sea Routes in the Arctic Looking to the Future, 2022
This report is part of BASIC's project Risk Reduction in the Arctic, generously funded by the Department of National Defence of the Government of Canada (DND). The report does not directly reflect the views of the Canadian Government. BASIC is grateful for the financial support received for this project. I would like to thank the anonymous peer reviewer for valuable comments and suggestions to previous drafts of this report.
2021
Marine tourism in the Canadian Arctic is a small but rapidly growing industry. Since 1990, the average annual distance travelled by passenger vessels (e.g., cruise ships) has more than doubled, and for pleasure crafts (e.g., commercial or private yachts) the average annual distance travelled has increased by nearly 4000%. This growth is tremendous, yet, at the same time, pleasure craft vessels are also some of the least regulated vessels in the Canadian Arctic (Johnston et al., 2017a). The Federal Government of Canada has responded to the overall need for additional regulatory frameworks for all vessels in the Canadian Arctic. The government is in the process of developing what is now known as the Low Impact Shipping Corridors (LISC). The LISC are described as shipping routes throughout the Canadian Arctic that are intended to provide "infrastructure, navigational support and emergency response services needed for safer marine navigation, while respecting the environment and lo...
Maritime Tasks and Challenges in the Arctic
Coast Guards and Ocean Politics in the Arctic, 2019
The Arctic is changing. Although maritime conditions vary across this vast region, increased activity from state and non-state actors alike are challenging the littoral northern states. This chapter takes a look at the changes occurring in the Arctic, specifically focusing on the contrasts between the North American and European Arctic regions, using Greenland, Canada and Norway as examples. The overall trend has been that the number of maritime vessels has increased steadily since the 1990s, while vessel activity is becoming more complex, diverse, and spread-out. The end of this chapter turns to the need for coast guard tasks and what these entails.
Canada-US Arctic Marine Corridors and Resource Development
2012
The shrinking Arctic ice cap is creating unprecedented geophysical change in the circumpolar region, a trend that is very likely to continue. Together, this "great melt" and the delineation of extended national economic zones afford increased access to economic resources in the Arctic Ocean. Intense activities in commercial, investment, diplomatic, legal, scientific and academic sectors abound in the new Arctic, but the region's long-term significance is only gradually penetrating North American public consciousness. Media reports such as the recent, virtually icefree trans-polar transit of a Chinese icebreaker through the Russian Northern Sea Route, or the transit of the Northwest Passage by a large cruise ship, are only the tip of the proverbial economic iceberg. In preparing for the commercialization 1 This policy brief is drawn in large part from discussions at the Arctic Marine Corridors and Resource Development Round Table. The event was held in a House of Commons facility in Ottawa, June 2012. Key pointS • The Arctic region stands at the cusp of tremendous economic development. Efficient, secure, environmentally sensitive marine transportation systems and smart public infrastructure could facilitate offshore and onshore energy, mineral, ecotourism and local community development. • Current Canadian and American government policies, regulations and investment in support of Arctic maritime infrastructure and resource development are inadequate. There is an urgent need for strengthened, comprehensive and innovative national Arctic economic development policies, and Canada-US federal, regional and corporate cooperation in the Arctic. • Public leadership and private investment, through the development of smart and strategic transportation infrastructure, is urgently needed in the North American Arctic to drive development and facilitate economic activity.
Multidisciplinary Approach to Design and Analysis of Arctic Marine Transport Systems
2017
Basic principles of the multidisciplinary approach to arctic marine transport systems (MTS) design and analysis are described in the article. The main idea of the approach is to synthesize geographic information system (GIS) technologies, different shipbuilding disciplines, fleet planning instruments and agent-based dynamic simulation models in an integrated software framework on the basis of object-oriented programming. Vessel operation is described as the movement and interaction of independent ships in GIS environment within the framework of the simulation model. MTS operation combines vessel operation itself (routing, determination of speed and fuel consumption, icebreaker escort, etc.) with plenty of external entities (port infrastructure, ice channel freezing process, offshore platform operation, etc.) that could be described as systems with comprehensive logic and physical behavior. Such integration provides a new quality of MTS simulation that allows considering complex inte...
Investigations of Variability for Ship Navigation through the Northwest Passage, 1982-2010
Proceedings of the International Conference on Port and Ocean Engineering Under Arctic Conditions, 2011
Considerable effort has been given to developing systematic methods for evaluating the safety of ship passages through ice-infested Canadian Arctic waterways (Timco et al., 2009). Recent analyses (Fissel et al, 2010; Mudge et al., 2010) of Canadian Ice Service weekly ice chart data (1982-2010) have utilized the resulting Transport Canada's AIRSS navigability system to quantitatively assess interannual trends and geographical details associated with the traditionally difficult to navigate Viscount Melville Sound, M'Clure Strait and Prince of Wales Strait portions of the Northwest Passage (NWP) Routes. The present work extends the Fissel et al. (2010), and Mudge et al. (2010) full navigation season analyses to assess value, feasibility and methods for incorporating shorter time scale (daily) ice and other environmental information into ship transit navigation models. Analysis products are compared with Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker passages through the NWP from the period 2003-2010 to appraise effectiveness and promising directions for model improvement. The NWP is used to develop geographically transferrable methods of using environmental data for now-time analyzing the navigability of ice conditions. Emphasis is given to establishing stand-alone procedures and tools for the near-daily time scales of Polar and sub-Polar marine traffic management.
Logistics, 5, 23, 2021
The analysis in hand provides a brief assessment of the United States’ and Canada’s marine transportation system and relevant search and rescue (SAR) support in relation to the Northwest Passage, with the purpose of examining to what extent these countries’ relevant infrastructure resources are able to meet the expected growth of shipping operations and business activities in the Arctic. Through an extensive literature review, this assessment will specifically describe the most important influences upon the maritime transportation system, with the issue of certain geographical details and the capabilities of existing ports standing out. Additionally, vessel activity trends and vessel traffic routing measure initiatives will be examined. Furthermore, the SAR infrastructure details and means to render assistance to people in distress along the Northwest Passage will be discussed. The reality remains that port characteristics are limited and vessel traffic routing measure initiatives and upgrades to SAR assets are commendable but slow-paced. It is true that both the United States and Canada are taking proper measures to build up infrastructure needs, but they both may run out of time to put adequate infrastructure in place to deal effectively with the changing environment.
Transportation Risk Analysis Framework for Arctic Waters
Volume 10: Polar and Arctic Science and Technology, 2014
Arctic waters have historically been relatively inaccessible for marine transport. Lately, climate change has made more of this region ice-free in the summer season. This has reduced the difficulty of marine transport in Arctic waters. Further, exploration and development of natural resources is increasing in Arctic regions, as is destinational shipping. The unique risk factors of this region, such as extremely low temperature, ice conditions and drifting icebergs, continue to pose threats to transportation. Potential impacts associated with marine transportation accidents warrant contingency plans that recognize that preventative measures may fail. To plan effectively, a transportation accident risk assessment model for Arctic waters is helpful. There is limited work on the development of such models. A new cause-consequences based risk assessment model is proposed here. The model estimates the probability of a transportation accident and also the related consequences during navigation in Arctic waters. To illustrate the application of the methodology, it is applied to a case of an oil-tanker collision on the Northern Sea Route.