New North Project seeks to advance logistics and transportation in the High North

In continuation of Barents Cooperation and The Working Group on Transport and Logistics (WGTL), Norway, Sweden and Finland are working together to develop the northern region and its transportation system through the New North - Transport, Logistics, and Security of Supply project. With funding of approximately two million euros from the EU Interreg Aurora program, the New North seeks to collect information and further develop cross-border cooperation and communication around transportation systems in the region. The objective is to also address the potential for future investments in the northern region and the possibilities of technological advancements in transportation and logistics.

In practice, the project is divided into four different Work Packages (WP's) that work on their respective areas to gather knowledge of the current situation and its future possibilities. The Work Packages deal with freight transport chains, security of supply and co-operation, electronic aviation, and green transport corridors. Having the project duration from September 2023 to end of August 2026, the first year is of the project is now behind and Work Packages are finalizing their first phases. On September 26-27 project participants met in Levi, Finland, to look at national and regional transportation plans of every country, and to share presentations on Work Packages and plan for the next steps ahead.

Mikko Tervo, the project manager of the New North project from the Regional Council of Lapland sees that the meeting accomplished to meet the needs of project participants.

"We don't have to put a huge effort building a grand strategy together with every nation and region in the project but can get quite far already by knowing about different national and regional transportation plans for the north", Tervo says.

In the meeting it was clear that all areas of the region share a similar situation, in that many former transportation plans are either getting outdated or otherwise updated because of the changed operational conditions. This emphasizes the importance of cross-border cooperation.

"That is where the planning of common transportation system begins in the grassroots level", says Tervo. "By sharing different plans, we can take others into account while developing our own. In the New North we have created a shared virtual workspace, where we can collect all those plans together and further cross-border communication."

Sanna Schroderus, a Planning Director from Regional Council of Kainuu and a member of the WGTL mentions the good experiences she has had within Barents cooperation during the years, and how she sees the New North project as a continuation of that. She works within WP4 that focuses on green corridors - mainly meaning train transportation throughout the Nordics. She is happy to tell that the first investigation report on the topic is about to be published soon and the next one is already in the planning. Coming from Kainuu, a region that borders a long stretch of Finland's border with Russia, Schroderus emphasizes the importance of developing east-west connections in cooperation with other northern regions.

"It is in everybody's interests take into account Eastern perspectives regarding these accessibility questions, to make sure we have adequate east-west transport corridors", she adds.

Mikael Bergström, a Senior Advisor for the County Administration in Västerbotten, Sweden, and an expert in international relations and transport, discussed the progress of Work Package 3 (WP3) of the New North project, which focuses on electric aviation. According to Bergström, while northern Sweden, Finland, and Norway have strong north-south transportation links, east-west connectivity is severely lacking, particularly in air travel.

WP3 aims to address this gap by exploring the potential of electric planes for medium-range routes, such as Tromsø-Luleå-Oulu. Bergström believes electric aviation will offer a more cost-effective and sustainable solution for connecting the region. Current efforts include system analyses, consultations with airports, and assessing infrastructure readiness for electric planes.

He mentions Skellefteå, a city in Västerbotten that has a few electronic airplanes constantly circulating the skies and an airport in which local power company has built an adequate charger for the planes. In addition, Skellefteå also has Green Flight Academy, which is training electronic aircraft pilots from all around the globe.

"Skellefteå is kind of test facility where other airports can see how it could look like building these systems", Bergström says.

As of now, most Work Packages are preparing themselves for the next phases of the project. A similar meeting that was seen in Levi is now planned for next spring in Norway. There participants may have the opportunity to visit Norwegian coastal harbors and learn more about them.