Project group Infrastructure
Infrastructure is a vital focus area for Greenland
Greenland's geography naturally places great demands on a transport infrastructure which will ensure efficient connections for people and goods in Greenland. Most of Greenland’s physical infrastructure was constructed between the 1950s and the 1990s.
Marine traffic
The Port of Aalborg is the starting-point for all Danish marine traffic to Greenland, and Royal Arctic Line is the exclusive operator on this route – an agreement which has recently been extended to 2022.
There are a large number of harbour facilities scattered around Greenland. Some harbours have the capacity to handle Atlantic ships and container cargoes, but many, especially in the smaller towns and villages, are currently limited in size and cannot receive containers.
There is therefore a need to develop Greenland’s harbour infrastructure to enable the handling of container traffic in all harbours, as well as facilitating greater traffic and larger ships, including cruise ships and oil industry supply vessels.
Air traffic
Greenland can be accessed by air from Copenhagen Airport and Keflavik Airport in Iceland, but the project group referred to below has been set up to explore the possibility of establishing direct flights to Greenland from other airports, such as Aalborg in Denmark.
In the aviation area, Greenland possesses an extensive network of airports and airfields for both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. The vast majority of passenger traffic within Greenland takes place by air, but a clear need can be identified to expand the airports and increase passenger capacity.
The Infrastructure project group
We have established a project group oriented towards the development and renewal of Greenland's infrastructure.
Specifically, the following focus areas have been identified:
Greenland's harbours: expansion and logistics systems
Traffic: freight and passengers
Cold stores and Border Inspection Points (food products from Greenland are subject to official food inspections in Denmark before they can enter the EU)
Infrastructure for oil and mineral exploration
Interests of ABN members in the project group
Major infrastructure projects in ports and airports will require both high capacity and expertise on the part of the companies who bid for these tasks. Consequently, there are major potential benefits in creating partnerships between firms in Greenland and North Jutland to solve this kind of task. Collaboration will be particularly useful within the implementation of technical and economic feasibility studies, environmental analysis, project planning and major construction projects.
The project group consists of:
- John Rasmussen, Exec. Vice President, Royal Arctic Line A/S (coordinator)
- Ole B.Ulriksen, Blue Water Shipping
- Peter Freiesleben, Arctic Group
- Thorkild Neergard, Cowi
- Henrik Mai, Niras Grønland
Contact the secretariat for further information on the project group