# Is The Northest Passage In Use yet?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-northest-passage-in-use-yet/561770>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 24, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-northest-passage-in-use-yet/561770 "2010-11-24T13:37:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-northest-passage-in-use-yet/561770/1 "2010-11-24T13:37:00Z")

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We/ve been told by the global warming crowd, that the Artic sea ice is melting…so has the famous Northwest Paasge been opened up to ship traffic?  
The benefits in shipping cargo via the passage would be significant-Tokyo to Southampton would be shortened considerably.  
Have any freighters made the Asia-Europe run yet?

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**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-northest-passage-in-use-yet/561770/2 "2010-11-24T14:30:51Z")

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Not yet… There has been a few cruise ships, lots of scientific and “adventure” transits, and commercial vessels have been running from Canada’s East coast all along the passage since 2008, supplying native communities. Before that the western ones used to be supplied from the the interior.

I would expect that it’ll happen within the next decade or so. Canada will need to beef up emergency and support services along the route before regular commercial traffic becomes common.

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**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-northest-passage-in-use-yet/561770/3 "2010-11-24T14:53:45Z")

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Also, although some feel the passage is in international waters, Canada is holding claim to it as internal. So, don’t go booking your cruise yet.