Scapa Flow was once a major base for wartime convoys on the Arctic route to Russia - could it now in peacetime regain its former level of activity?

That's the central question being discussed by an international gathering in Kirkwall on Thursday morning (4 September).

The idea might have once seemed an impossible dream, but a major new maritime project now under consideration could provide a boost for Orkney as a port for northern European traffic.

A group of European countries has come together to look at ways to increase container traffic along the sea route that stretches all the way from northern Norway and north-west Russia to Greenland - a distance of over 4,500 kilometres.

Called the Northern Maritime Corridor project, it's funded by the European Union. Orkney, already a major oil transhipment location for the region at its deep-water port of Scapa Flow, lies in a key strategic position on the route.

Representatives of a number of the parties will be meeting in Orkney during this week's International Science Festival, and on Thursday will be setting out a picture of the concept and its implications.

Amongst the factors stimulating interest in the project are petroleum developments in the Barents Sea, which is on its way to becoming Europe's main gas source and a main supplier of oil to Europe and North America.

Another factor is the growth in the freight quantities of seafood from northern Europe to the south, and the need to find ways to avoid road transport.

The project involves a number of northern European countries, and within the Highlands and Islands a regional partnership led by Highlands and Islands Enterprise is seeking to develop a local maritime cluster of business and other organisations which could benefit from the development.

The partnership involves local authorities, port authorities, and local enterprise companies, and the regional project manager, Dr Alfred Baird of Napier University, is based in Orkney.

Northern Maritime Corridor seminar programme

Pickaquoy Centre, Kirkwall
Thursday 4th September 2003

9.30 am "Northern Maritime Corridor: the seaway for efficient, safe and sustainable transport"
  Olav Hauge, Asplan Viak as, Stavanger

10.00 am "Short sea shipping in the Northern Maritime Corridor"
Roar Lervik, Molde Research Institute, Møre og Romsdal & Dr Alfred Baird, Napier University Transport Research Institute, Edinburgh

10.30 am Coffee break

11.00 am "Seafood transport and logistics in the Northern Maritime Corridor"
  Jens Petur Bærentsen, NORA, Torshavn

11.30 am "Petroleum related transport in the Northern Maritime Corridor"
  Bjoern Kavli, Troms County Council, Tromsø

12.00 noon "The importance of safety in the Northern Maritime Corridor" 
  Isabel Munn, Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeen &
  Harriet Willassen, Coast Care, Lofoten Islands

12.30 pm Close