A national priority

Anavigable Northwest Passage is no longer a mere romantic notion worthy of folk songs, or a far- off issue for Canada to worry about decades from now. The Danish- owned Nordic Orion demonstrated this fall that it is now possible to take a commercial vessel through the previously icebound Arctic waters. An official with the company, which shipped 15,000 tonnes of coal from Vancouver to Finland’s port of Pori via the northern route, said the shipper hopes to increase its use of the passage next year.

The Nordic Orion made its September trip with the blessing and aid of the Canadian government, which sent the Coast Guard’s Louis S. St- Laurent icebreaker to accompany the ship. The fact commercial interests are making clear signals about future plans for the Northwest Passage brings into focus how frustratingly fuzzy Canada’s own plans are for the sought- after shipping lane. There’s been plenty of talk in the last several years about defending northern sovereignty. Prime Minister Stephen Harper famously said in 2007, “We either use it or lose it.”

The future of the Northwest Passage is not something that will be solved with Canada’s official claim to the North Pole through an application to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. This is about establishing rules and control over a shipping lane that cuts through the heart of Canada’s north.

Nordic Bulk Carriers said the four days it saved sailing the Orion through the Northwest Passage, as opposed to the Panama Canal, cut $ 200,000 from its costs.

Shippers will not ignore a route that cuts days and dollars off a trip from the West Coast to Europe. Canada must make the passage a national priority.