Thinning ice already allowing more commercial shipping in Northwest Passage

The thinning Arctic ice pack is already producing the much-anticipated surge in commercial shipping through the Northwest Passage.

And as the pace of ice loss accelerates, experts say the federal government is not keeping up to ensure Canadians control it.

Three companies are now planning to send commercial vessels deep into the Passage’s once ice-choked waters this season – triple the number from 2007. There are now more solely commercial vessels in the Passage than there were ships of all kinds just a few years ago.

“The ice is more favourable than in past decades,” said Capt. Georges Tousignant, who is scheduled to take a cargo ship from Montreal almost to the western gates of the fabled waterway this September – the first such passage for Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping.

…Coast Guard figures show there were 62 commercial and re-supply ships and three ore carriers in the Passage last year. That’s more than all 54 of the ships that entered those waters just four years earlier, which includes research and recreational vessels.

Canadian Press