Western Nunavut community gets rare, direct sealift delivery

NSSI’s M/V Camilla Desgagnés, left is accompanied by a Coast Guard icebreaker on a trip from Nanisivik to Kugaaruk earlier this week, where the company made a rare sealift delivery. (PHOTO BY LUC BELAND/DFO)

Another season of heavy ice could easily have threatened the delivery of cargo to Kugaaruk this year but instead, the Kitikmeot community got its first-ever sealift delivery Aug. 31 — all at once.

Kugaaruk is unique in that the Pelly Bay community is located in an ice zone that has usually prevented commercial shipping companies from delivering goods directly.

Typically, carriers will bring cargo as far as Nanisivik, at which point the federal Coast Guard delivers it to Kugaaruk and Eureka — the other station commercial sealifts can’t access.

“But this year, for a few different reasons, the Coast Guard would not do the service,” said Waguih Rayes, general manager of Nunavut Sealink and Supply Inc.

“So they told us, ‘We’re prepared to escort you if you want to go in.’”

Coast Guard spokeswoman Rachelle Smith said that decision was made due to a significant increase in cargo destined for Kugaaruk this year, which included materials for three five-unit buildings.

Severe ice conditions have also delayed the commercial delivery of supplies to Nanisivik in the first place, Smith said, so NSSI’s participation meant a more seamless delivery.

While the CCGS Des Groseilliers delivered a small amount of cargo to Kugaaruk, CCGS Pierre Radisson and CCGS Des Groseilliers escorted M/V Camilla Desgagnés from Nanisivik to Kugaaruk and back.

Even accompanied by a Coast Guard icebreaker, Rayes said the trip from Nanisivik was slow, given the Gulf Of Boothia is about nine-tenths full of ice.

But the M/V Camilla Desgagnés arrived in Kugaaruk Aug. 31 with more than 5,000 cubic metres of cargo aboard.

“I understand from reports that people in Kugaaruk were very happy,” Rayes said, “because they got all their cargo at once, instead of in installments.”

In 2014, the build-up of multi-year ice, coupled with bad weather, severely delayed the delivery of Kugaaruk’s cargo, requiring some cargo items to return south for the winter.

The CCGS Terry Fox and Des Groseilliers had to abandon their delivery last September and head to Churchill, Man., to off-load supplies to a storage facility.

The delivery of many of those items was delayed until this shipping season.

“It worked perfectly well,” Rayes said. “And if need be, we can evaluate doing it again in the future.”

In 2014 and 2015, certain areas of the Arctic experienced high concentrations of ice, noted Coast Guard officials, which affected both commercial shipping activities and Coast Guard icebreaking operations.

“The Arctic will continue to experience extreme variability in ice conditions from year to year and from area to area,” Smith said.

“As such, Canadian Coast Guard officials continue to work with local governments, communities and industry regarding icebreaking requirements for 2015 and beyond.”