On 1 March 2023, Magnus Friberg (Sunet) – Task 5.2 lead – and Jørgen Qvist (NORDUnet) met with Swedish Polar Research Secretariat in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The two introduce the Northern EU Gateways project and its WP5 Arctic Route study activity, and made sure the Polar Research Secretariat is aware that the study will identify ways to establish a secure, reliable and efficient data connection between Europe and the Asian Pacific across the Arctic Ocean.
The aim of the meeting was to understand requirements and limitations of the arctic class vessels, understand tentative expectations on the technical report on ship design, responsibilities of the partners, timeline for deliveries. Meeting attendees discussed the possible solution for the polar cable laying vessel, potential business cases for the fibres, and conditions for successful laying of the submarine cable.