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This blog post is not about Superman or Batman defying gravity, but about cities like Tromsø defying the gravitational force of Oslo in Norway.

This afternoon I had some very pleasant hours drinking coffee and discussing with Morten Skandfer, the deputy leader of the social-liberal party Venstre in Troms, the region where Tromsø is main city.

One of our main themes of discussion was Tromsø. For those who have discussed these issues with Morten before, this is old news. But for the rest of you I want to share some of my notes from this very inspiring discussion.

Morten’s main point was to tell me how the geopolitical map is changing, and how the role of Northern Norway is changing with it. Here is his first map, which he drew on a piece of paper

Today, there is no railroad going from Tromsø to Sweden or Finland. However, in the E.U., there are several discussions about the transportation of goods across Europe, and the melting of the Arctic ice will very soon make it possible to have a new transport between Europe and Asia – going North of Russia (in International Waters) instead of through the Suez channel. This new sea-way will shorten the transport time between Europe and China/Japan with several days.

We know that Narvik is an important harbour for iron coming from Kiruna (the largest Iron field in the world?), and the Narvik harbour is a good entrance to the Scandinavian and European markets through ARE (Arctic Rail Express). They are developing ARE III which will connect Narvik with Russia and China.

Now, the Kiruna orefield that today is shipped through Narvik also has a Finnish part of it, and today the Finnish ore does not have a port to go to. What would happen if we were to build a railroad track between – for instance – Skibotn and Finland? This is an idea that has been around since the 1970s, but it has renewed relevance now because of the Finnish ore production. If you understand Norwegian, you can read an article about this here.

In Norway, Northern Norway is often seen as the provincial place, middle of nowhere. But if you draw a new map where Northern Norway is at the centre, you will see – for instance – that Tromsø is the larger city in Europe that is the closest to Japan. We are already now seeing direct flights from Japan to Tromsø with tourists eager to see the Aurora Borealis.

Could Tromsø or another harbour in Northern Norway be the new Rotterdam? Could we see a development in Northern Norway that defies gravity and is as exciting and news-worthy as the development in the capital of Norway? What will happen once ships can safely travel from Europe to Asia through the arctic region?

This is part of an ongoing exploration, and I will return to this topic soon.