Economical and Environmentally Safe Arctic Marine Transportation
ARCOP project results have proven that oil and gas transportation by the Northern Sea Route is technologically possible and economically feasible. However the safety issues including environmental protection should be further looked into.
Since the start of the project in 2003, crucial changes have taken place in the business environment. Due to the rise in oil price, an increasing number of companies are planning to use the Northern Sea Route for oil and gas transportation. In this light, the timing of the ARCOP project has been perfect. But the challenges of developing Arctic shipping remain.
The ARCOP project achievements represent the latest knowledge and understanding on the technological solutions, environmental protection needs and economical and administrative framework of Arctic transportation. ARCOP results will form a basis for the workings of the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (2005-2008) assigned by the Arctic Council.
The EU Directorate-General Transport and Energy co-funded the three-year project, which was participated by 21 organisations from five EU Member States (Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy), Russia and Norway.
The project has now come to an end. This website contains all published scientific reports and workshop reports. Some of the reports are restricted to the use of the project participants only. The website www.arcop.fi and its contents will remain available until the end of 2007. The final report of the project will be published at the end of April 2006.
The ARCOP project team of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Finland wishes to thank all stakeholders, project partners and workshop participants for their co-operation during the project.