June 21. And it ends September 21. Now, what is today's date? See. Still summer.
Now, it has been an interesting season.
For the past several years, it was the northeast passage that opened first, with the northwest not opening until September, and only just barely in 2013-14-15. This year, the opposite. The northwest passage is almost open now. The usual choke point, the ice in the Canadian islands, is melting out fast. If that ship had tried going around the opposite way, they would have done much better.