Offshore activities and shipping in Arctic regions are increasing significantly due to the vast amount of natural resources found in the high north. However, the distinct conditions of the Arctic Sea, such as remoteness or the lack of marine infrastructure, represent a challenge to be surpassed in order to ensure safe and economical feasibility of high north transport and operations. Furthermore, the assessment of the parameters and their sensitivity influencing the ship design for Arctic conditions, and thereby the safety of life at sea, are of utmost importance. Especially, the description of the environmental conditions including single and multi-year level ice, ice ridges, drifting ice, icebergs and general extreme weather conditions in a format suitable for design are of significant importance.

What is meant by the overused term "sustainability"?

In general, we want to harvest from an existing system while re-building it to appear unchanged, but still different. But to what extent is this change permissible and desirable? Due to the complexity and sensitivity of the Arctic region we must avoid accidents since we may cause permanent damage to this sensitive ecosystem. Hence, we need to define what shall be the required safety level and the associated cost. Unfortunately, the common practice here is to minimizing expenditure on safety measures, due to pressure to be economically viable. From a business perspective it may be preferred not to spent much attention to environmental and social responsibilities besides economical feasibility. Consequently, in view of a globally preserved Arctic region widely applicable and mandatory regulations are required to meet the different interests of all involved stakeholders. In terms of ship design we must approach the safe domain from the conservative side and only reduce expenditure when the solutions are proven to be safe.

The research groups presented on this website is actively contributing to the identification of the required safety level for arctic ship-based transport and further identifies risk-mitigation measures and arctic sea specific risk-based design methodologies. The activities are briefly introduces in the following sub-pages for informative purposes and for purpose to initiate a dialog with interested readers.

The main professorship involved in this research is held by Sören Ehlers. The position is currently sponsored by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry as part of the maritime knowledge hub.