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Historically, shipping through the Arctic has been precarious because of the frigid temperatures and near total-darkness in the winters. Despite the dire impacts of global warming to the entire world, it has opened up opportunities to foster trade across the Arctic Ocean, particularly in the warmer summer.
The Arctic Bridge is a “figurative” bridge – more a shipping link between North America and Europe/Asia with ending points in the northern Russian city of Murmansk and in the Northern Canadian town of Churchill, Manitoba.
See the interactive Google Map at the bottom of the post!
Three key facts about this map
Murmansk, Russia is the largest city north of the Arctic Circle
On the Russian end, Murmansk is large city with a population of more than 300,000 – significantly larger than any other city or town above the Arctic Circle. Despite its location, the climate is moderated by the fact that the waters around the city do not freeze because of the warmer North Atlantic Current that brings warmer waters from the south up and around. The ice-free waters led Murmansk to be a strategically important fishing and shipping city on the Arctic Ocean (and grow in population over the years), which is why it is one of the ports of the Arctic Bridge.
The Canadian port of Churchill has no road connections
Manitoba is vast, with massive forests and plains, and does not have many roads to begin with, let alone one connecting its northern-most communities like Churchill to the rest of the province. Even though this is Canada‘s only deep-water port on Arctic Ocean (which is one of the major reasons it is the terminus of the Arctic Bridge), there is no road connecting to the rest of the country. However, there is a railroad that connects the port and town of Churchill to lower Manitoba.
This is the shortest route connecting North America with Eurasia
The Arctic Bridge shipping route is the shortest distance to transport goods between North America (especially the central parts of the US and Canada) and Eurasia. By using Churchill and Murmansk as ports, goods are able to avoid heavily congested ports on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. One problem is that the Arctic bridge is currently only navigable ~4 months each year, often making it not consistently reliable enough.
Additional links and sources
- Information on updates being made to the indigenous-owned Port of Churchill and railway line (link, published in 2019)
- Article about the relatively-recent sale of the Port of Churchill from an American company to an indigenous Canadian company (link, published in 2018)
- Article about first Arctic Bridge crossing from Russia to Canada (link, published in 2007)
Have you heard of the Arctic Bridge before?
See other places around the world Globe Charting has featured!
Including another area of the Arctic region: the Diomede Islands!
