Shipping Companies Shun Northwest Passage

OTTAWA (Reuters) - While there has been much talk that Arctic trade routes will open up as northern ice melts, shipping companies and experts say using the fabled Northwest Passage through Canada’s Arctic archipelago would be too difficult, too dangerous and totally impractical.

In theory, the idea is tempting — the passage cuts the distance between Europe and the Far East to just 7,900 nautical miles, from 12,600 nautical miles through the Panama Canal.

Global warming means that the summer ice cover in Canada’s Arctic is shrinking at such a rapid rate that experts predict the waters could be clear for at least part of the year within a few decades.

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