THE 8th Arctic Shipping Summit taking place on March 23-24 in Montreal to hear speakers on the development of Arctic navigation.

Among them will be Lon Kishiyama, director of the US Office of International Activities Maritime Administration, who will speak on "Infrastructure Development, Grants/Loans, and Public/Private Partnerships in the Infrastructure Development".

Mr Kishiyama is responsible for coordinating the Maritime Administration's participation in international activities concerned with maritime transportation. His office engages in foreign economic and political developments.

Other speakers include Halldor Johannsson, general manager, Arctic Portal; Philippe Cambos, technical director, Bureau Veritas; Petter Meier, deputy director general, Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications; David Miller, president and CEO of World Wildlife Federation of Canada; Aase Naaman Jensen, assistant vice president, Skuld North America, Mika Mered, managing partner, POLARISK Group, Suzanne Lalonde, professor of International Law, University of Montreal and Jan Emblemsvag, vice president, ship design & systems, Rolls Royce Marine,

Key topics include comments from the US in reference to their chairmanship of the Arctic Council; future Outlook moving forward; the Polar Code; retrofit design solutions to enhance Arctic Shipping Operations; shipping measures in place for oil spills; using alternative routes to increase profitability; risk management strategies & combined insurance challenges; developments in Arctic technology to enhance shipping; benefits of search and rescue operations and preventing downtime; phasing out heavy fuel and alternative options for Arctic shipping and marine biodiversity developments.