Cold Region Logistics Planning and Management

Abstract

A successful cost‐effective exploratory operation in a remote, harsh (cold) climate is largely dependent upon the attention given to logistics managements and planning. Since the discovery of oil and other mineral resources in the Arctic, significant interest has been generated in exploring this and other extreme environments in the interest of seeking knowledge and potential resources. Although numerous experiences of long‐duration remote sites in the Arctic is documented, a comprehensive dynamic logistics system for short‐duration explorations is lacking. In this paper, logistics components for short‐duration research and development operations at remote sites with extreme climatic exposures are identified. The framework of a dynamic management and planning system for logistics is presented. A preliminary nationwide survey of experts, active in planning short‐duration explorations in remote extreme environments, estimated in the time required for each logistic component of a hypothetical research operation in the Arctic. The results of the survey, showing optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic logistic activity times (procurement/ease/contract/delivery), were used to develop a PERT scheduling network.