The Arctic Railway – Risks and Opportunities kirkenes tromsØ murmansk narvik kevitsa mine kolari sodankyl kemirvi rovaniemi tornio kemi oulu helsinki-tallinn tunnel arctic railway northeast passage current railways rail baltica 250 000 tonns Nickel copper ore concentrate 200 000–300 000 m3 raw timber elsinki 370 000 tonns of fish cold products 40 billion worth of oil gas resources tallinn 2 The Arctic Railway– Risks and Opportunities The growth of the importance of the Arctic region Poland. It is also estimated that oil and gas prod- provides Finland an opportunity to change the ucts would be transported from the Arctic region, country’s logistic position. A chance arises to move also wood, and minerals extracted in Lapland and the country from the periphery to the hub of inter- Norwegian salmon. The railway would also serve national transport and transit. The Arctic Railway growing tourism. planned to pass through Lapland, would connect Europe to the Arctic Ocean and the Northeast Pas- sage by rail. Containers and bulk freight If the Arctic Railway would be built, it would Ice and weather conditions in the Arctic marine bring jobs to Lapland while opening up new busi- area are still difficult. According to the Arctic Rail- ness opportunities. However, there is a long way to way Report, it is unlikely that container transpor- go before deciding on the start of the construction. tation between Europe and Asia would move to the Till then, many more details need to be sorted out. Northeast Passage. The importance of the route Because this is a long term project, it is difficult to will remain marginal for the transportation of bulk evaluate the significance of the investment. and unitized freight for a long time. In 2018, the Ministry of Transport and Com- Even if transport between Asia and Europe via the munications and the Finnish Transport Agency Northeast Passage would increase in the long term, released a report on the Arctic Railway. Five alter- based on current knowledge, it is not advisable to native routes lines were included in the compari- direct the transport through the Arctic Railway. son. Ramboll Finland Oy analyzed the transport The goods are considerably cheaper to transport potential and effects of different routes. Norconsult directly from port to port or through the ports of AS carried out similar investigations on the Nor- the North Sea than to bring the cargo to Kirkenes wegian side. Based on the analysis the route from and carry them to their destination by rail. Rovaniemi through Sodankylä to Kirkenes, in According to the report, the use of the Arc- Norway was chosen as the subject of further inves- tic Railway becomes less favorable if the goods tigation and research. were to be transported further to the south in Eu- The motivation behind the report was an in- rope. Transporting by the Arctic Railway and the creased interest in the exploitation of natural re- planned Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel to the Baltic and sources in the Arctic region. The Arctic Railway East- to Central Europe would be an expensive and could serve as a part of the natural resource trans- unrealistic alternative. port route to Europe. According to Sabina Lindström, Director of the Besides, as a result of climate change, the traffica- Ministry of Transport and Communications, the bility of the Northeast Passage most likely will im- Arctic Railway is examined as a separate project prove. This could increase the transport between in a further study. It will not be linked to the con- Asia and Europe on the Northeast Passage and struction projects of the Helsinki-Tallinn Railway some of these container shipments could go by rail Tunnel and the Rail Baltica railway connection through Finland to Eastern and Central Europe. planned from Tallinn to Poland, although these connections could have an impact on the demand The corridor would include the Helsinki-Tallinn for transport on the Arctic Railway. railway tunnel and the Rail Baltica from Tallinn to 3 Oil and Gas on hold, because, according to Yara, opening the mine has not been financially viable. However, in The Arctic Railway would open a new transport 2019 the feasibility study has been restarted. corridor to Kirkenes, which opens up a connection to the Atlantic, Northeast Passage, and the Barents If Yara opens the mine, the company would carry Region. Various project plans for the exploitation the concentrated phosphate and iron concentrate of oil and gas resources in the Barents Region are for further processing to its production plants in estimated at approximately EUR 140 billion. Norway. The concentrate could be carried by car to Sodankylä and loaded there to train. For cost rea- Most shipments of natural resources in the Barents sons, the phosphate concentrate would probably Region involve oil and gas. Sea transport is a more be transported to Kirkenes, iron ore to Kokkola or cost-effective option for these shipments than rail Oulu. transport. This is why shipments to Finland’s oil re- fineries are best handled by sea transport, and par- Sakatti copper and nickel mine is being planned ticularly to those refineries located on the coast. At in Sodankylä. The mining company Anglo Amer- current costs, it would not be financially viable to ican is the majority shareholder. The Sakatti mine transport oil and gas products through Finland by project is in the environmental impact assessment rail to Central or Eastern Europe. phase, and the assessment is expected to be sub- mitted to the authorities for processing within Sea transport unrivaled affordability is demon- 2019. If Sakatti mine is opened, both the ports of strated by the exemplary calculation, where crude the Bothnian Bay and the port of Kirkenes could oil is transported from a drilling rig in the Barents be used for its transportation. Sea to the Neste refinery in Sköldvik port, Porvoo. The cost of direct shipping per tonne of oil would According to Metsähallitus’ estimation, the Arc- be less than one-third compared to the option of tic Railway could also be used to transport raw loading oil on railway wagons in Kirkenes and timber. However, large-scale bioproduct mill in- transported by rail. vestments planned in Lapland, Boreal Bioref in Kemijärvi and Polar King in Kemi, would signifi- Oil and gas production in the Arctic marine re- cantly change raw wood flows in the north. gion requires a large variety of investment goods. Transportation through Finland will not be finan- Total production of Boreal Bioref, planned for cially viable unless there are significant changes in Kemijärvi, would be about 0.5 million tons per either rail and sea transport costs or technical de- year, and the main product would be softwood velopment. pulp. The main market area for softwood pulp is in China. The products would be transported there mainly by ships, some on trains along the Trans-Si- Wood and Minerals berian route. If the Arctic Railway is realized, ship- If realized, the rail link between Rovaniemi and ping could be directed to the harbor of Kirkenes in Kirkenes would provide a new alternative for the addition to the ports of the Bothnian Bay. transportation of the extractive industries and bio- Metsä Fibre in Kemi is studying whether to products of Eastern Lapland. modernize its existing pulp mill or replace it with Kevitsa mine is a large copper and nickel mine a new bioproduct mill. The new mill, Polar King, in Sodankylä. The mine transports about 250,000 would be the largest wood processing plant in the tonnes of nickel and copper concentrate by road to northern hemisphere and thus would greatly affect Kemi, where the concentrate is loaded onto trains. the raw wood flows. If the Arctic Railway would be built, the mine would have a direct rail link from the mine to Kemi Fish from Norway and Harjavalta. In 2017, Norway brought 50,000 tonnes of salmon The Norwegian company Yara has long been to Finland. Also, Norway exported 320,000 tonnes planning to open a phosphate mine in Sokli, Savu- of salmon to the Baltic countries, Poland and Rus- koski in Eastern Lapland. The project has been 4 sia, partly through Finland. The amount was even higher before the trade sanctions imposed on Rus- sia. Through Finland, transports concentrate on road VT 21, which runs from Kilpisjärvi via Kolari to the south. The traffic volume of this road has in- creased significantly in recent years. Theoretically, rail transportation could be a com- petitive alternative if the transport could be car- ried out in block trains and refrigerated transport. Trucks also should be used at both ends for con- necting transportation. According to the Norwegian forecast by 2060, a maximum of 370,000 tonnes of Norwegian export and import shipments could be transferred to the Arctic Railway to Kirkenes. Train wagons would be mainly loaded with fish, industrial and refrigerated products. Passenger Traffic ”The Arctic Railway can Passenger traffic can also benefit from the Arctic be a new attraction Railway. It can be a new attraction for tourism in for tourism in Lapland Lapland and Northern Norway. The problem for the operator is the strong seasonality of tourism. and Northern Norway. Passenger traffic – mainly tourist traffic – would Seasonal tourist traffic probably be generated for the track over the long is expected to expand term. Tourist traffic is currently highly season- al, but will probably become more year-round in towards year-round in the future. the future.” In the Finnish Transport Agency’s cost model, they calculated under which conditions the pas- senger transport would be commercially viable. Based on the study, it is very unlikely that this amount of passenger traffic could be generated at the ending point of the railway.