Tag: Northwest Passage

The number of ships sailing the Arctic's Northwest Passage (NWP) increased from 112 in 2013 to 160 in 2019, representing a 44% rise, according to a new report on Arctic shipping.

We heard that in early 2018, the first commercial ship traveled the Northern Sea Route in winter without the assistance of an ice breaker. Indeed, due to the climate change, new trade routes have opened in some areas, however, at the same time the risk of ice in others is getting larger and larger.

Canada's Government of Nunavut and Kitikmeot Inuit Association joint submission on the Grays Bay Road and Port project proposal has been formally accepted by the Nunavut Impact Review Board. Once complete, the GBRP will be the only deep water port in the Central Arctic. 

The US Coast Guard cutter "Maple", a 225-foot seagoing buoy tender, has completed its historic voyage from Sitka, Alaska, to the US Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, Maryland, through the Northwest Passage.

After 24 days traveling from Alaska to Greenland, the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica arrived at Nuuk, Greenland on July 29. The vessel departed Vancouver, Canada and traversed the Northwest Passage setting a new record as it is the first to have sailed through this once-forbidding route earlier than ever before. Due to climate change, the Arctic sea ice has been melting sooner every year, opening the route earlier and for a longer time each summer.

On July 12, the 225-foot US Coast Guard Cutter Maple departed on a voyage through the Northwest Passage. The cutter will serve as a ship of opportunity to conduct scientific research near the Arctic Circle, in support of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The Northwest Passage is becoming navigable for longer periods of the year. Ship traffic, however, still bears hazardous risks. A German-Canadian research team wants to change that: it is conducting the preparatory work for a safe navigation through the icy waters.

BigLift Shipping’s m.v. Happy Rover is the first heavy lift vessel ever to have sailed Northern Searoute and the North West Passage within one season and also the first-ever vessel to use the shortest of the Northwest Passage routes, via Fury & Hecla Strait, as a transit trade lane between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Crystal Cruises luxury cruise ship, Crystal Serenity, has embarked on a 32-day journey through the Northwest Passage, the Arctic region north of Canada that was unattainable until just 100 years ago.