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The growth of Arctic shipping requires effective tools to assess the appropriateness of existing practices on safety and resilience levels, especially in the enforcement of the Polar Code. Understanding such, in this study, we develop a resilience index using the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP). Data collection for the index's implementation started during a research voyage along the Northwest Passage in Canada. It resulted in 61 valid responses, upon which the relative importance and the level of satisfaction of resilience builders were investigated. The findings indicate that factors that rank high on importance are, in many cases, not that high on satisfaction. This presents dilemmas regarding the effectiveness of the current practices in promoting safe and resilient Arctic shipping management practices. This study fills an important gap in the monitoring of safety and resilience practices in Arctic shipping. In turn, this affects the future actions and research of researchers, stakeholders, and right-holders in the Arctic area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the distribution and behaviour of ocean vessels in the Arctic region and determine the impacts of their emissions, we examine vessel characteristics in conjunction with a series of Automatic Identification System (AIS) data between 2012 and 2016. These datasets, combined with a bottom-up model for estimating pollution emissions, enable us to analyse the level of pollution generated by vessels in the Arctic region. The results indicate that the movements of the vessels and their emissions increase in frequency and continue to do so unless clean energy or technologies are adopted. More than 80% of the emissions are found to be concentrated in the Norwegian and Barents Seas. Emissions from the Northern Sea Route are comparatively low and those from the Northwest Passage are similarly insignificant. Besides, an empirical analysis of the emissions in the Arctic region is carried out following the more restrictive International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s regulations on sulphur emissions that is implemented in 2020. This investigation supplements the literature analysing Arctic's pollution emission inventory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the rate of ice melt in the Arctic increases, the potential for shipping activities is also increasing. However, infrastructure along the northwest passage (NWP) in Canada's Arctic is almost nonexistent. This presents major challenges to any response efforts in the case of a natural disaster. Also, the Arctic is home to many indigenous communities, as well as flora and fauna. Thus, it is of vital importance to protect the livelihood of the rights holders in this area and the Arctic marine environment. To do this, it is necessary to develop a decision‐making tool to assess the potential risk of pollutants arising from increased shipping activity. Understanding such, this article assesses the impacts of a potential oil spill on communities in the Canadian Arctic. The consequences of risk are presented using a multiperiod model while the likelihood is analyzed using Bayesian Network. The output of the multiperiod model is incorporated into an influence diagram for risk assessment purposes. The Bayesian model benefits from expert elicitation from the crew aboard a research ship passing through the NWP. Information was also obtained from marine insurance companies, government representatives, and other Arctic specialized professionals. The risk‐based model is subsequently applied to the Canadian Arctic area, with the aim of evaluating the impact of a potential oil spill through shipping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel approach to assessing the cost of container liner shipping through the Northwest Passage (NWP) on northern local communities. Based on some representative communities, concerns of the residents of these Canadian Arctic regions were assessed. Two essential factors to the well-being of the community members—air pollution and oil spills—are considered in our model. The approach was therefore used to evaluate the socio-economic impact of Arctic container liner shipping in Canadian Arctic regions. More specifically, the approach adopted a) uses a logit model to estimate the market share of NWP for commercial liner shipping; b) investigates different scenarios to evaluate the feasibility of commercial liner shipping through the NWP; c) incorporating concerns from the local communities, conducts a socio-economic analysis for the communities. With the analysis of the socio-economic impacts on local communities, the study would help guide governments on how to evaluate and calculate transit fees for transiting NWP. The study is imperative in supporting decision-making to shape Arctic policy. Furthermore, it gives stakeholders an idea of the market dynamics of shipping in the Arctic area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since black carbon (BC) has become one of the most harmful pollutants and partly accelerated the melting of the Arctic sea ice, internationally mandatory policy to limit black carbon emissions in the whole Polar Code Area is on the agenda. To cope with this policy, some potential measures from both the coastal government and the shipowners, as well as the economic impacts of these measures, are considered in this paper. We analyze the daily navigation profits and the corresponding BC emissions after these measures are adopted. Since equipment-related cost is usually regarded as fixed and cannot be calculated on a daily basis, this paper also proposes an equipment investment payback period to access the time needed to achieve a balance between the investments and the profits of applying the equipment. A case of a dry bulk carrier navigating through the Northwest Passage is presented for concrete quantitative analysis. The results indicate that wind propulsion system can help shipowners mitigate the largest amount of BC emission. Wind-driven generators, which are used for auxiliary generating system, are the most economic-beneficial to shipowners under the current technology environment. Besides, we found that BC emission tax rate set by coastal governments plays an important role in the selection of different measures by shipowners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]