The «Arctic competition» problem and the marine transport hubs: is it a clash of business interests or the knockout game?

Analysis of the causes and sources of the so-called "Arctic competition" between Murmansk and Arkhangelsk identifies strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT-analysis) of the marine transport hubs. The focus of the article is the transport integration problem and logistics. Arkhangelsk and Murmansk marine nodes were created as the part of a single freight logistics system in the North and were not supposed to compete, but to complement each other. Nearest future will bring up the issue of the national transport and logistics integrator with the functions of the “upper-corporative” logistics center responsible for evidence-based, homogeneous and transparent re-distribution of traffic and freight logistics market bases in the western part of the Russian Arctic.