Nunavut draws up plans for multi-million dollar port pitch

MV Umiavut, owned by Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping, unloads sealift cargo in Iqaluit in 2005. Peter Taptuna, the economic development and transportation minister, said he’ll table a plan for a deep sea port in Iqaluit before the end of March. (FILE PHOTO)

Construction of a deep water port for Iqaluit would cost at least $65 million, according to the latest plans for the project drawn up by the Government of Nunavut.

The plans are found in a presentation made by officials with the Department of Economic Development and Transportation at an in camera session of Iqaluit city council this past January. Nunatsiaq News obtained a copy through an access to information request.

The port options range from a $65 million project on Polaris Reef with good access for ships, but only a launch ramp for boaters, to a $73 million project built on top of the old causeway that would include a small craft dock, but less favourable access for cargo ships.

A $67 million version that would be located at Innuit Head, not far from where oil tankers now unloaded, is said to have the best access for shipping. A $71-million, second option for Polaris Reef has room for a large cargo yard, but would be harder for ships to moor to.

A 2005 study commissioned by the City of Iqaluit put the cost of a port at around $50 million.

Peter Taptuna, the economic development and transportation minister, was blunt when asked if Nunavut can afford to build an Iqaluit port on its own. The answer is an unqualified “no.”

But he said the territory has never benefited from more than a century of federal infrastructure spending the way southern Canada has.

“It’s a responsibility of Transport Canada and Ottawa to make sure the infrastructure’s built,” Taptuna said. “They did that right across Canada [in] practically every coastal community down south.”

The presentation says any deep sea port has to be able to handle sealift ships, oil tankers, plus coast guard and navy ships.

The proposal also includes two designs for stand-alone small craft harbours that would cost $20 million and $32 million each.

Iqaluit city councillor David Ell, who’s also the director of Nunavut marketing for Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping, said he prefers a cheaper small craft harbour, because it’s more affordable.

“I wish we could have a real big port but I don’t think we’ll get it,” he said.

Ell said it takes five to 10 days to unload a NEAS ship in Iqaluit. While the company would welcome anything that would reduce that handling time, Ell said NEAS ships would still have to bring barges North to offload in other communities.

But Taptuna said there’s no point in building such a big piece of infrastructure if it doesn’t reduce offload times for sealift companies.

Generally, Iqaluit’s high tides mean there are only eight hours per day suitable for unloading cargo onto the beach by barge. There’s even less time if the weather is bad.

“If you build something that doesn’t improve that then there’s no real gain or point in doing that,” he said.

Taptuna told MLAs this past week he hopes to table a final plan in the Legislature before the end of March.

The presentation also notes that this is the fifth study of a deep sea port for Iqaluit since 1975, and the third since Nunavut became a territory in 1999.

One page of the 31-page presentation is blacked out because it contains a breakdown of a “financial model” that “could prejudice future contractual negotiations with Government of Nunavut suppliers,” wrote Robert Long, the department’s deputy minister.

Such a redaction is allowed under Nunavut’s access to information laws.