There is a belief that melting sea ice in the Arctic is making the Northwest Passage—a shipping route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans—more accessible.

However, a new study examining changes in the shipping season from 2007 to 2021 paints a different picture.

The research, which analyzed the navigability of the Northwest Passage (NWP), found that the shipping season is actually getting shorter along the majority of the route.

This finding is significant—for one because it had been hoped the NWP would be used as a shorter and more economical alternative to traditional shipping routes like the Panama and Suez Canals.

The northern route, in particular, shows a significant decrease in the duration of the shipping season. The Eastern Beaufort Sea, M’Clure Strait, and Viscount Melville Sound, all parts of this route, have experienced substantial reductions in the number of weeks that ships can safely navigate these waters.

In the Eastern Beaufort Sea, for example, the shipping season has decreased by 14 weeks over the 15-year period, a substantial change that poses challenges for both commercial shipping as well as community resupply missions.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/arctic-shipping-season-is-shortening