Somehow the opening up of the Northwest Passage seems to be heating up the tempers in the US and Canada. Reason: they can't agree on who controls the route. To make matters worse, other countries are pushing their claims to rights of exploitation of the route for shipping.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7033498.stm
A basic look at the map shows very clearly that only Canada and the US can claim those waters, with an option for Denmark in case ships want to sail close to Greenland. A ship would enter the Arctic through the US-controlled part of the Bering Strait, sail along the Alaskan coast and then enter Canadian waters, exiting in Atlantic Canada.
I'm not a geographer nor a lawyer, but claims by other countries to that route seem ludicrous to say the least. If I discover Russia is one of the claimants I will laugh: they claim half of the Arctic seabed for themselves and want free rein in the Northwest Passage as well!
If that route will need maintenance of any sort (icebreakers or other routine operations) then it will only be fair for a joint US-Canadian venture to charge fees for the route's use. If there's no maintenance then standard territorial water rules should apply. Ultimately if you don't want a ship in your territorial waters why should you let it in through that Arctic backdoor?
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