The Porto Franco Regime in Canadian and Russian Sea Ports as an Instrument of Socio-Economic Development in the Arctic

What direction is the Arctic developing in today? Most likely it is a direction of substantial change. First of all, the region is experiencing significant changes in climate conditions. Arctic sea ice has been decreasing steadily since the 1980s and will continue to do so, creating longer windows for navigation in the region.¹⁾ These changes will significantly affect the volume and character of maritime activities in the region, particularly shipping.²⁾ An assessment of Arctic shipping between 2011-2014 shows that the extent of Arctic shipping on the global scale was already significant.³⁾ Another study of shipping in the Arctic between 2015-2017 shows that the overall number of voyages steadily increased by an average of 5506 unique vessels per year.⁴⁾ Notwithstanding the fact that the growth rate might be not very high, this increasing trend is stable and may spike in future. This implies an increase in volume of transportation along such routes as the Northwest Passage and Russia’s Northern Sea Route, which may further serve as an alternative to other currently wide-used routes (e.g. through the Suez Canal). Subsequently, positive changes may occur in spheres such as tourism, connectivity and infrastructure, inward migration, and others.⁵⁾ Therefore, it is expected that the Arctic will be developing as an area of increasing economic interest and investment attractiveness.