page_title: Northwest Passage
section_title: Potential as a shipping lane
hierarchical_section_title: Northwest Passage / Overview / Potential as a shipping lane
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the Arctic region showing shipping routes Northeast Passage, Northern Sea Route, and Northwest Passage, and bathymetry
context_page_description: The Northwest Passage is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Siberia is accordingly called the Northeast Passage.
  The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and from the Canadian mainland by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages or Northwestern Passages.
  For centuries, European explorers sought a navigable passage as a possible trade route to Asia. An ice-bound northern route was discovered in 1850 by the Irish explorer Robert McClure; it was through a more southerly opening in an area explored by the Scotsman John Rae in 1854 that Norwegian Roald Amundsen made the first complete passage in 1903–1906. Until 2009, the Arctic pack ice prevented regular marine shipping throughout most of the year. Arctic sea ice decline has rendered the waterways more navigable for ice navigation.
context_section_description: In the 21st century, major changes to the ice pack due to climate change have stirred speculation that the passage may become clear enough of ice to permit safe commercial shipping for at least part of the year. On August 21, 2007, the Northwest Passage became open to ships without the need of an icebreaker. According to Nalan Koc of the Norwegian Polar Institute, this was the first time the Passage has been clear since they began keeping records in 1972. The Northwest Passage opened again on August 25, 2008. It is usually reported in mainstream media that ocean thawing will open up the Northwest Passage (and the Northern Sea Route) for various kind of ships, making it possible to sail around the Arctic ice cap and possibly cutting thousands of miles off shipping routes. Warning that the NASA satellite images indicated the Arctic may have entered a "death spiral" caused by climate change, Professor Mark Serreze, a sea ice specialist at the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said: "The passages are open. It's a historic event. We are going to see this more and more as the years go by."
  On the other hand, some thick sections of ice will remain hard to melt in the shorter term. Such drifting and large chunks of ice, especially in springtime, can be problematic as they can clog entire straits or severely damage a ship's hull. Cargo routes may therefore be slower and uncertain, depending on prevailing conditions and the ability to predict them. Because a plurality of containerized traffic operates in a just-in-time mode (which does not tolerate delays well) and the relative isolation of the passage (which impedes shipping companies from optimizing their operations by grouping multiple stopovers on the same itinerary), the Northwest Passage and other Arctic routes are not always seen as promising shipping lanes by industry insiders, at least for the time being. The uncertainty related to physical damage to ships is also thought to translate into higher insurance premiums, especially because of the technical challenges posed by Arctic navigation (as of 2014, only 12 percent of Canada's Arctic waters have been charted to modern standards).
  The Beluga group of Bremen, Germany, sent the first Western commercial vessels through the Northern Sea Route (Northeast Passage) in 2009. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that "ships entering the North-West passage should first report to his government."
  The first commercial cargo ship to have sailed through the Northwest Passage was SS Manhattan in August 1969. SS Manhattan, of 115,000 deadweight tonnage, was the largest commercial vessel ever to navigate the Northwest Passage.
  The largest passenger ship to navigate the Northwest Passage was the cruise liner Crystal Serenity of gross tonnage 69,000. Starting on August 10, 2016, the ship sailed from Vancouver to New York City with 1,500 passengers and crew, taking 28 days.
  In 2018, two of the freighters leaving Baffinland's port in the Milne Inlet, on Baffin Island's north shore, were bound for ports in Asia. Those freighters did not sail west through the remainder of the Northwest Passage, they sailed east, rounded the tip of Greenland, and transitted Russia's Northern Sea Route.
caption: Map of the Arctic region showing the Northeast Passage, the Northern Sea Route within it, and the Northwest Passage.
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