MONTREAL – Shipping companies are calling on the federal government to invest in Arctic infrastructure and navigation technology as climate change renders transport corridors more hazardous — all while traffic ramps up.

A group of more than a dozen ship owners and transport companies say northern waters need new port facilities, higher quality satellite imaging and modern mapping that charts the depth of the ocean floor.

The St. Lawrence Ship Operators association says infrastructure upgrades would help meet the growing needs of northern communities and mining firms as well as the threat of foreign actors amid rising global tensions.

David Rivest, president of the Desgagnés Transarctik shipping firm that supplies dozens of northern communities, says a retreat in Arctic sea ice atop a he

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