Arctic Discoveries, Part II: Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage, the infamous route to the Far East that Columbus was searching for when he inadvertently (re)discovered North America, has been declared navigable by Canada's federal ice authority. Although not completely ice-free, last year's extreme thaw has led to predictions of a fully opened passage by the end of the month. This will be only the 2nd time in recorded history that this has happened.

Does this mean we're going to see fleets of three-masted carracks sailing West in search of silk, spices and adventure? Probably not. But many are predicting a large increases in international shipping as companies take advantage of the shorter distances now available. The melting ice also makes oil extraction in the Arctic more plausible - Exxon and BP already have expensive exploration projects in the works. Also, if American companies develop the capacity to ship oil through the icy waters, we're going to see a re-emergence of the sovereignty debate with Canada over who has rights over the Passage. The Canadian military and Coast Guard is responding to the challenge by increasing its activity up North, but it has been slow to upgrade its equipment to deal with greater tanker activity - although it appears as though the US is not doing much better.

In any event, the North is about to get a lot more interesting.