IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v19y2011i4p977-983.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Northern Sea Route versus the Suez Canal: cases from bulk shipping

Author

Listed:
  • Schøyen, Halvor
  • Bråthen, Svein

Abstract

The navigation distance via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) from a Northwest-European port to the Far East is approximately 40% shorter compared to the route via the Suez Canal. The shorter distance may facilitate more than a doubling of vessels’ operational energy efficiency performance. There is at present substantial uncertainty in schedule reliability via the NSR. Unless the schedule reliability is improved, the NSR should primarily be explored for bulk rather than for liner shipping. A major disadvantage with the NSR is its seasonality. Shipping operations in the summer time via the NSR may already today be profitable for minor bulk trades. Additional shipping routes may give more flexibility, and the NSR route choice option may facilitate supply chain agility and adaptability.

Suggested Citation

  • Schøyen, Halvor & Bråthen, Svein, 2011. "The Northern Sea Route versus the Suez Canal: cases from bulk shipping," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 977-983.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:19:y:2011:i:4:p:977-983
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2011.03.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096669231100024X
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2011.03.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jérôme Verny & Christophe Grigentin, 2009. "Container shipping on the Northern Sea Route," Post-Print hal-00568193, HAL.
    2. Wilson, Martha C., 2007. "The impact of transportation disruptions on supply chain performance," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 295-320, July.
    3. Lee, Hau L. & Whang, Seungjin, 2005. "Higher supply chain security with lower cost: Lessons from total quality management," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 289-300, June.
    4. Verny, Jerome & Grigentin, Christophe, 2009. "Container shipping on the Northern Sea Route," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 107-117, November.
    5. Theo E Notteboom, 2006. "The Time Factor in Liner Shipping Services," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 8(1), pages 19-39, March.
    6. Mohamed M. Mostafa, 2004. "Forecasting the Suez Canal traffic: a neural network analysis," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 139-156, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yip, Tsz Leung & Wong, Mei Chi, 2015. "The Nicaragua Canal: scenarios of its future roles," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-13.
    2. Nguyen Khoi Tran & Hans-Dietrich Haasis & Tobias Buer, 2017. "Container shipping route design incorporating the costs of shipping, inland/feeder transport, inventory and CO2 emission," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 19(4), pages 667-694, December.
    3. Theocharis, Dimitrios & Pettit, Stephen & Rodrigues, Vasco Sanchez & Haider, Jane, 2018. "Arctic shipping: A systematic literature review of comparative studies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 112-128.
    4. Notteboom, Theo E., 2012. "Towards a new intermediate hub region in container shipping? Relay and interlining via the Cape route vs. the Suez route," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 164-178.
    5. Christian Finnsgård & Joakim Kalantari & Zeeshan Raza & Violeta Roso & Johan Woxenius, 2018. "Swedish shippers’ strategies for coping with slow-steaming in deep sea container shipping," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-24, December.
    6. Tran, Nguyen Khoi & Haasis, Hans-Dietrich, 2015. "An empirical study of fleet expansion and growth of ship size in container liner shipping," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 241-253.
    7. repec:ddj:parsro:y:2014:i:2:p:57-72 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Olli-Pekka Hilmola & Weidong Li, 2023. "Drivers of railway container transports between China and Finland," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, December.
    9. Zhi Heng & Tsz Leung Yip, 2018. "Impacts of Kra Canal and its toll structures on tanker traffic," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 125-139, January.
    10. Zhang, Yuxin & Xu, Dafeng, 2023. "Service on the rise, agriculture and manufacturing in decline: The labor market effects of high-speed rail services in Spain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    11. Lasserre, Frédéric & Pelletier, Sébastien, 2011. "Polar super seaways? Maritime transport in the Arctic: an analysis of shipowners’ intentions," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1465-1473.
    12. Yingjie Fan & Frank Schwartz & Stefan Voß & David L. Woodruff, 2017. "Stochastic programming for flexible global supply chain planning," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 601-633, December.
    13. Junseung Kim & Kyungku Kim & Kum Fai Yuen & Keun-Sik Park, 2020. "Cost and Scenario Analysis of Intermodal Transportation Routes from Korea to the USA: After the Panama Canal Expansion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-20, August.
    14. Sibul, Gleb & Jin, Jian Gang, 2021. "Evaluating the feasibility of combined use of the Northern Sea Route and the Suez Canal Route considering ice parameters," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 350-369.
    15. Yang, Laike & Jiang, Miaomiao, 2024. "The impact of opening the Arctic Northeast Passage on China's carbon emissions," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 242-254.
    16. Xu, Hua & Yin, Zhifang, 2021. "The optimal icebreaking tariffs and the economic performance of tramp shipping on the Northern Sea Route," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 76-97.
    17. Eddy Bekkers & Joseph F. Francois & Hugo Rojas†Romagosa, 2018. "Melting Ice Caps and the Economic Impact of Opening the Northern Sea Route," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(610), pages 1095-1127, May.
    18. D. O. Eliseev & Yu. V. Naumova, 2021. "Simulation of Transit Transportation along the Northern Sea Route under Climate Change," Studies on Russian Economic Development, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 160-168, March.
    19. Theo Notteboom & Hercules Haralambides & Kevin Cullinane, 2024. "The Red Sea Crisis: ramifications for vessel operations, shipping networks, and maritime supply chains," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 26(1), pages 1-20, March.
    20. Eddy Bekkers & Joseph F. Francois & Hugo Rojas†Romagosa, 2018. "Melting Ice Caps and the Economic Impact of Opening the Northern Sea Route," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(610), pages 1095-1127, May.
    21. Kenneth Button & Tomaž Kramberger & Tea Vizinger & Marko Intihar, 2017. "Economic implications for Adriatic seaport regions of further opening of the Northern Sea Route," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 19(1), pages 52-67, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:19:y:2011:i:4:p:977-983. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.