In summer, a stretch of ocean that was impassable a generation ago is now a shipping lane. Last season, more than 90 vessels made the crossing, double the number of five years before.
No single authority governs the route. Insurance, search and rescue, and environmental rules differ by country, and in places they overlap. Coastal communities say they are bearing the risk without the benefit.
“Everyone wants the shortcut,” said a harbour master in a northern port. “Nobody wants to be responsible for the rescue.”
