Time to Blur the Ocean’s Borders: The Potential for International Integration Projects
The recent disruption to maritime routes underscored just how much global trade depends on uninterrupted shipping operations. Indeed, it will be crucial for major logistics projects such as the Northern Sea Route and International North–South Transport Corridor. Leading maritime nations are taking steps to develop offshore projects and build trade fleets and tankers. In order to effectively capitalize on the world ocean’s resources, it will be essential to make a number of breakthroughs in development technologies, ship construction, and equipment manufacturing. More than 80% of global trade by volume is carried by sea, including a third of the world’s extracted hydrocarbons, and almost 20% of the total volume of consumed bioresources. In the coming years, thousands of cutting-edge nuclear-powered vessels will be transporting freight and people both reliably and economically. The total area of aquaculture sites could exceed that of farmland, and serve as a universal source of food and bio-feedstock. However, microplastic pollution is a major issue. Ultimately, the oceans have a major bearing on the climate, and in order to protect it, sustainable development is essential. Will people live in the ocean, and how will a future “water world” look? What engineering and environmental solutions are Russian shipbuilders prepared to offer in order to capitalize on resources and develop maritime transport corridors? How would these solutions employ nuclear power, LNG, renewable energy sources, zero-emission systems, and modular approaches to construction and production platforms? What are the prospects for maritime trade growth and global shipbuilding? How might maritime technologies be employed to build infrastructure, including in regions that are hard to access, such as the Arctic? Are international collaboration projects on protecting oceans feasible, and what specific innovations are already being applied?
