Northwest Passage increasingly an option for sea cargo ships

The good news for shipping companies is not good news for the planet.

Between 1906 and 2006 only 69 ships made the journey but in 2009 alone 24 vessels made the journey, according to Canadian maritime law expert Michael Byers, Germany's Der Spiegel newspaper reported.

Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grímsson recently claimed that the route was becoming a "trans-Arctic Panama Canal," the paper said.

Der Spiegel reported that new ships are being designed to cope with icebergs on the journey.

The MV Nordic Barents is due to arrive in the Chinese port of Lianyungang after a 3,500-mile journey through the Arctic Ocean from the Norwegian port of Kirkenes, the newspaper said. A Russian icebreaker sent to protect the ship, which was carrying iron ore concentrate, was not needed with broken ice floes only passing nearby twice.