Driving forces and development problems of cargo flows along the Northern Sea Route

The author analyzed the trends and prospects of the Northern Sea Route. The main problem is that this rather complex system is influenced by many factors, often contradictory and poorly predictable. Thus, the increase in demand for energy and resources determines the overall need for the development of the Arctic shelf. However, the possible cooling and worsening of the ice conditions may adjust to the possibility of transporting of the resources to the Asia-Pacific market, for instance. In this regard, along with the methods of factor and economic analysis the expert approach was used for the study. Its main result is a package of proposals aimed at supporting the Arctic marine cargo flow.