Arctic Green Maritime Data Governance for Green Shipping Corridors: Interpreting the EU Data Act

Abstract

Climate-driven sea ice decline is accelerating the commercial use of Arctic routes and raising the need for Green Shipping Corridors that couple decarbonization with safety and ecosystem protection. This study introduces the concept of Arctic Green Maritime Data—environmental, meteorological, operational, and emission datasets generated in polar navigation—and examines how the EU Data Act can serve as a legal–institutional backbone. Using a multilayered integrative analysis, we (i) interpret core provisions on user access, portability, compensation, public-interest requests, cloud switching, and interoperability; (ii) map the Act’s roles of data holder, user, and recipient onto shipping stakeholders; (iii) assess whether polar operational datasets qualify as “data generated through the use of a product”; and (iv) derive a contractual architecture for corridor operations. We propose a three-layer governance model: firm-level instruments (a Standard Arctic Green Maritime Data Transaction Agreement, enterprise data governance architecture, and FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) based contracting), association-level tools (industry model terms, public-purpose data protocols, and a neutral data-trust intermediary), and IMO-level integration aligning EU Data Act principles with Polar Code and MARPOL. The analysis showed that structured rights and obligations reduce vendor lock-in, enable safe public-interest data flows (with emergency access and fair compensation), and improve interoperability across clouds and jurisdictions. The results provide implementable pathways for shipping companies to turn Arctic Green Maritime Data into strategic assets while supporting sustainable and resilient green shipping corridor operations.