Arctic shipping and the Mary River project may soon become an important component of Canada’s marine foreign trade and economic prosperity. This Canadian Naval Review article examines the massive Mary River project on Baffin Island and its impact on Canadian Arctic shipping.Canada’s ocean governance provides rigorous regulation of shipping within Canada’s 9.3 million square kilometres of ocean space. In Canada, south of 60ºN there is a mature regulatory shipping regime. That is not the case north of 60.
Implications Arctic Shipping and the Mary River Project
Arctic issues are ocean issues and destinational shipping will be becoming increasingly important in the coming decades. Indo-Pacific economic development will affect Canadian Arctic interests. Canada, as a coastal state, must have capacity to respond to new shipping in its waters. If these questions are answered and Canada keeps a close eye on developments, it may well be that iron and ice will be a good mixture for Canada’s Arctic development and Mary River can be a model for other Arctic states to regulate Arctic shipping. Mary River is an ore deposit that needs to be mined to strengthen Canada’s Arctic ocean infrastructure. This w i l l also strengthen Canada’s position with future in-transit international Arctic shipping.
