The Port of Churchill had its busiest year in three decades in 2007, giving transportation business people a glimpse into what one day could evolve into a niche shipping hub.

The Canadian Wheat Board announced last week it shipped 621,000 tones of wheat and durum through the northern Manitoba port this year, the highest volume since 1977. And officials expect even more business in the following years.

Denver-based OmniTRAX Canada, which operates the port and 1,000 kilometres of northern railway lines, said shipping capacity would increase once upgrades are made to the rail track. The company's wants to see one million tones of shipped through Churchill next year.

According to the European Space Agency more navigable waters in northern provinces and beyond could be a reality in the not-too-distant future. The group reported recently that satellite photos show that an ice-free passage is opening along northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland.

Once impassible, the so-called Northwest Passage could evolve into the shortest shipping link between North American, European, and Asian markets. According to experts, the unexplored passage could trim thousands of marine miles and costs for shippers and importers.

The news bodes well for shippers and transport companies looking for future niche lanes. Manitoba is one province putting itself in position to take advantage of what could one day become a major global trade corridor. The Manitoba International Gateway Strategy, for example, includes the possible establishment of the Port of Churchill gateway, as the Prairies' most direct ocean link to Atlantic and Asian markets.

A new Northwest Passage could turn Churchill into a major staging center for North American goods traveling north -- way north, Bob Dolyniuk of the Manitoba Trucking Association tells Today's Trucking. "When you're talking about cost and capacity, it's there," he says.

Russia, Canada, the U.S. are three countries vying to lay claim to the territory, which is said to contain about 25 percent of the world’s untapped oil and gas resources.

-- with files from the Winnipeg Free Press