Finland Times

New arctic transport connections are set to take the centre stage in the upcoming three-day conference of Arctic Business Forum (ABF), said the organisers.  

The fifth ABF conference hosted by the Lapland Chamber of Commerce formally begins on March 11 at Rovaniemi of Finland but the forum activities will be held during the following two days.

The second day of the brain-storming features a session on ‘new arctic transport routes’ where discussants will point out various aspects of the proposed transport network including sea and railway connections.

Norwegian Public Roads Administration Regional Roads Director Torbjörn Naimak, Finnish Marine Industries Head Merja Salmi-Lindgren, Arctia Group President & CEO Tero Vauraste, JsCO Russian Railways Division Head Anton Kozlov (tbc), Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Estonia Rail Baltica project manager Indrek Sirp will address the session.

A northern sea route has been in the spotlight since the opening of new transport channels in the Arctic due to ice melting and an arctic railway has been a hot issue in recent years.

The railway is important to Finland as it has no direct connection to the arctic sea. Forum leaders also emphasize introducing rail communications in the transport route proposal.

A Finnish government study that explored and evaluated various possibilities of the proposed transport network also confirmed the importance of a rail route.

But Lapland Chamber President and CEO Timo Rautajoki, who was on the study steering group, observed that an arctic railway involved huge investment and Finland would also be dependent on the neighbouring countries in this regard.

The study recommended a number of transport routes and corridors. They are ‘Arm of Finland’ rail link, Rovaniemi-Kirkkoniemi connection, Narvik connection, Salla-Alakurtti connection, Kovdor connection, and Arkhangelsk Corridor.

The topic has become hot since the publication of the Joint Barents Transport Plan in September 2013.

The Barents Euro-Arctic Transport Area (BEATA) Steering Committee took the initiative of developing the plan in the light of growing attention being paid to the High North and the expected growth in key industries in the Barents region. 

Norway, Sweden, and Finland have conducted separate strategic studies on the need for transport infrastructure in the High North and Russia has federal plans to develop the infrastructure in their territory in the Barents region.

The studies and plans are mainly focused on national priorities but also emphasize the need for taking a Barents approach in planning future transport solutions and interventions in this region.

The BEATA mandate says the plan should reflect national priorities, cover all modes of transport, focus mainly on border-crossing transport corridors between Russia, Finland, Sweden, and Norway, be assessed in the light of the anticipated development of relevant industries, pinpoint bottlenecks and barriers to border-crossing transport, etc. It also advises taking environmental issues into consideration.

Meanwhile, Helsinki in a resolution on August 23, 2013 defined a number of objectives for Finland’s arctic policy and has been exploring ways of promoting them as Finland’s new strategy for the arctic region.

The strategy addresses local residents, education, research, economy, infrastructure, environment, stability, and international cooperation in the Arctic.

Latest developments in the arctic transport connections plans will be presented at the ABF conference and the discussions are also expected to depict how these would change global logistics.