Cheaper and faster. It cuts 1,000-2,000 km off the Panama Canal Route. By 2030, it could become a major shipping terminal. You should tell your Grandchildren to invest in some northern towns.
Only if we buy a lot more and bigger icebreakers. And the shippers would have to start paying for ice breaking services.
Cruise ships should pay double because of the amount of passengers on board that may need rescuing.
All cruise ships coming up/down the inside passage are required to travel in pairs in case of an accident because there is simply not enough resources to rescue 2000 people. When the Sundancer was put up on the rocks by the pilot it proved this. Fortunately they were able to get it into the pulp mill dock where it promptly listed and destroyed part of the dock. Luckily no one was seriously hurt.
Likewise with the Queen of the North(bottom). If they had not had the good fortune to hit an island 15 minutes from Hartley Bay the death toll would have been much higher. And the fact that many people there keep a radio on the coastguard channel even at night.