On April 6th and 7th 2016 AECO, in cooperation with Iceland’s Coastguard, is organizing a Joint Arctic Search and Rescue (SAR) Table Top Exercise (TTX) workshop which will take place in Reykjavik, Iceland. The TTX is initiated by AECO and co-hosted by Iceland’s Coastguard. AECO is also in dialogue with other partners from different Arctic […]

Last week history was made as Poseidon Expedition successfully carried out a direct crossing between Svalbard and Franz Josef Land – and back again. This route shortens the sailing distance between Svalbard and Russia considerably than when sailing via mainland Russia, and is a cruise many Arctic operators plan to organize as soon as Russian […]

AECO bans general use of UAV’s in the Arctic. We have today issued a press release where explain that cruise passengers travelling with AECO will not be allowed to bring and use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) when visiting the Arctic. This is a decision made by AECO’s members and involves that the general use of […]

AECO welcomes Algol Océans as new Provisional member. Algol Océans is a small French company organising cruises on the sailing boat Algol, mainly in Artctic areas. Algol was built in 1980, is 17.50 meters long and carries 10 passengers – and two crew members. The first journey in Svalbard was in1984. From 2009 to 2014 […]

The Greenland Self-Government has decided that they will remove the “per passenger fee” (pax-tax) for cruise vessels visiting Greenland. It is most likely that the “pax-tax” will be replaced by a “per gross tonnage per 24 hours harbor fee”. The full picture has not been drawn yet, but the pax-tax in Greenland may by history […]

AECO has welcomed Guangzhou Jizhi (3 polar) International Travel Services as the first Chinese Affiliate member in the association. Guangzhou Jizhi International Travel Service was established by a group of polar travel experts, who have rich experience in Arctic and Antarctica tours.  Since 2006 they have organized over 50 groups to visit the polar areas […]

House of Lords Arctic Committee concludes that the UK should follow the example of nations including France, Singapore and Japan in appointing an Ambassador for the Arctic.This is part of several conclusions in a report on “A changing Arctic”. AECO met with the committees during their visit to Svalbard last year. Read more at http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/arcticcom/news/report-published/.

AECO’s Copenhagen office will from today be located at “Nordatlantens Brygge” (The North Atlantic House) http://www.nordatlantens.dk. The North Atlantic House is a Greenlandic, Icelandic and Faroese center for art and culture. It is also the offices for Faroe Iceland representation, the Icelandic Embassy, the Greenlandic Representation (Greenland’s Self-Government), Visit Greenland, Greenland’s Nature Institute, Arctic Council, […]

A heavy fuel oil ban expansion in Svalbard entered into force January 1st, 2015. In addition to national parks and nature reserves it is now prohibited to use or carry heavy fuel oil in Kongsfjorden/Ny-Ålesund and Magnalenefjorden. Kongsfjorden and Magdalenefjorden are within Northwest-Spitsbergen national park where the heavy fuel oil ban has been in place for some time, […]

AECO has played a major part when the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) together with the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) recently published the “Handbook for vulnerability assessments for landings sites in Svalbard”. The method has been developed in close contact the tourism industry, and especially AECO’s site guideline projects have been […]