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  *By Michael Grey There has been no end of sincere concern expressed about the frequency of fires inside containers, which are still running at a rate of one serious event every six weeks on average. This statistic never seems to change from one year to the next, and that doesn’t begin to do justice

By Michael Grey* “In the shipping industry,” an old Greek shipowner once said to me, “we operate not with the help of the government, but in spite of it”. And it is absolutely true, no matter where a shipping operation might be based, although some governments are more landlubberly than others. This statement, uttered more

By Evan T. Bloom* Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had tremendous impact on international relations globally. While the Arctic has generally been immune from external political pressures, the shocking developments in Ukraine led the seven states other than Russia that are members of the Arctic Council on March 3, 2022 to take the unprecedented step of formally pausing

By Michael Grey “They are lovely people who are going through hell”. It was a surveyor from DNV, who we happened to meet at Odessa airport, as we clutched our cardboard exit documents in the queue for what served as a departure lounge, whose words came back to me this week. It was a freezing

  By Alice Rogoff* For eight years since anonymous “little green men” from Russia invaded Crimea, the Arctic Council has continued to operate under the illusion of the Arctic nations’ “peaceful collaboration.” Russia, with its one-half share of Arctic landmass, has remained a member in good standing of the council and even become its chair,