A coal-hauling ship, the Danish-owned Nordic Orion has made transit of the Northwest Passage, across the top of North America through the Arctic Ocean. Check out this article in The Globe and Mail, for details.
Apparently Canada is not particularly well-prepared to support a commercial route running across its northern coast. The article itemizes poor charts, no ports, lack of icebreakers, under-equipped Coast Guard and aerial rescue capabilities. The U.S. will need to get involved in this effort too, as our Alaska is a part of the coast traversed.
