ABSTRACT
Despite climate change and the melting of sea ice, Arctic shipping remains challenging. Natural and structural constraints hinder the development of shipping in the region. These constraints largely explain the limited development of transit traffic and the large share of natural resources logistics took in Arctic traffic. Companies have adapted to these logistical constraints, especially in Arctic Canada, where few ports exist. This chapter, based on interviews, corporate data, and traffic statistics, compares how traffic is driven along the NWP and the NSR, and underlines the constraints the shipping companies had to cope with in the Arctic and portrays the adaptation processes they developed, especially in the Canadian Arctic. The research also underlines the need to address, through further research, the dynamics of change in Arctic shipping with the impacts of the Ukrainian conflict, the advent of transshipment hubs, and the impacts of globalized natural resources on demand for Arctic resources.
