Policy environment analysis for Arctic seaport development: the case of Sabetta (Russia)

ABSTRACT

In this paper, a structuration model is developed to evaluate opportunities and constraints that may arise for a port authority operating a port in the Arctic. The study builds upon the new institutionalist approach to transport infrastructure policy. It argues that given the specificity of operational conditions in the Arctic, as well as the expectations of the resource-driven future transformations, the conventional port development models cannot accurately depict factors of Arctic port activity. The proposed structuration approach focuses on how four dimensions of the policy environment (physical, economic, institutional, and environmental) enable and constrain policy choices available to a port authority. Application of this model to the case of Sabetta, a deep-sea multi-functional port constructed in the Ob estuary of the Yamal peninsula (Russia), demonstrates the inextricable links between actions and institutions and pinpoints the uncertainty factors that affect Arctic port development ‘from scratch’. The practical objective of this research is to introduce a dynamic multi-factor model for systematic evaluation of the policy environment in Arctic port development. Given that industrial activities in the Arctic region will proceed at the current speed or accelerate, lessons learned from the case of Sabetta will be relevant to other port infrastructure projects in the Arctic.

KEYWORDS:

• Port development
• Arctic
• policy analysis
• structuration model
• port of Sabetta
• Russia

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Prof. Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen and Prof. Pami Aalto, as well as the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. An earlier version of this paper has been presented at the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center 2016 Summer International Symposium ‘Russia’s Far North: The Contested Frontier’ (July 7–8, 2016, Sapporo, Japan).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research has been supported by the Academy of Finland – Suomen Akatemia (Center of Excellence Choices of Russian Modernization) and Kulttuurin ja yhteiskunnan Tutkimuksen Toimikunta (277874), Suomen Merenkulun säätiö, and bilateral exchange program between the University of Helsinki and St. Petersburg State University.