Florian Gauthier
The Arctic has recently become one of the most intriguing regions of the globe. The USGS report of 2008 put an emphasis on the enormous potential energy reserves in the region. The Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA) of 2009 gave hope of an ice-free Arctic far sooner than expected. This resulted in an ever-increasing focus on the Arctic’s economic potential. (Howard, 2009) Traditional Arctic players were thus not alone anymore. Many countries (e.g. China) and enterprises increased their activities in the region. Navigation is one of the two main economic sectors with incredible potential for decades to come. The other one is obviously the energy sector. Numerous authors have discussed Arctic economic development during the last decade. So how has it evolved since 2007? And what is the state of knowledge today? To answer these questions, this review focuses on the literature of Arctic navigation in order to find gaps. As research is rapidly growing and evolving, the purpose of this literature review is to assess the state of the literature and its current gaps.
