Northeast Sea Passage as Complementary Arctic Transit Route to the Main Intercontinental Transport Corridors
Purpose: The main aim of the research is to assess current importance of the Northeast Sea Passage for international shipping and trade, as well as indicate main barriers to its further development, hampering at the same time possibilities of transforming this Arctic sea route into logistically complementary passage to the major global land and sea corridors. Methodology: To conduct this data-driven research, the following methods were applied: 1. critical literature analysis, 2 Data mining and analysis, 3. market analysis and 4. comparative analysis. Findings: The research results indicate that the NEP has been used not only seasonally, but also primarily by coastal shipping. Its status as international sea route is rather potential, not real. There are many obstacles and barriers of various nature limiting the possibilities of its wider use. They mainly include: geopolitical, ecological, economic, operational, technical and logistics issues. Without the creation of an interntional broad cooperation platform interested in using it as transit sea route, capable of improving the quality standard of the global logistics space, it remains only a potential opportunity for global transport and trade. Practical Implications: In the face of ongoing difficulties in using the Suez and Panama Canals, as was the case in 2023-2025, unblocking the northern ocean passage is becoming a major challenge of strategic importance for maintaining the dynamic development of global trade and transport and increasing the resilience of global supply chains. Originality/Value: The study indicates the need to develop NEP as complementary transit route for shipping to not only the main world canals but also other open ocean and land transit routes recently intensively used or blocked. The global cost-benefit analysis of implementing such a project seems to indicate its rationality from an economic and logistical point of view. It provides an opportunity for creating an alternative to sometimes very risky traditional sea passages and founding at the same time coherent global logistics space.