Customers could get lower rates

Two Northern shipping rivals are expanding their sealift operations this year.

Last week, Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping announced it's launching a new route through the Western Arctic and a new "thru-rate" service that allows Kivalliq customers to order goods in Winnipeg and have them shipped via Valleyfield, QC.

"We have a good rate [from the railways] from Winnipeg through Valleyfield. That's how we'll be saving the money," said David Ell, director of Nunavut marketing for NEAS.

Customers simply phone in their orders and the goods are shipped by rail to the company's facility in Valleyfield. The service is available to Kivalliq customers in Rankin Inlet, Coral Harbour, Baker Lake, Arviat, Chesterfield Inlet and Sanikiluaq.

Business observers expect transportation costs to drop during the current economic recession. The Globe and Mail reported this past Tuesday that North American rail freight traffic is down almost 18 per cent in the first quarter of 2009.

NEAS is also launching a new sealift route to the Kitikmeot region, also originating in Valleyfield, Ell said. Stops include Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Taloyoak, and Gjoa Haven.

"With the Northwest Passage, there's less ice so it'll be easier to go through," Ell said.

If the new services are successful, Ell said NEAS may consider adding another ship to its fleet. It already owns three: the MV Avataq, MV Qamutik and MV Umiavut.

Meanwhile, the Northern Transportation Company Ltd., is launching a new route this summer that will originate from the port of Richmond, BC. It will service the Inuvialuit region of the Northwest Territories, plus Bathurst Inlet, Umingmaktok, Cambridge Bay, and Gjoa Haven.

NTCL also serves the Kivalliq, while NEAS has three ships that also call at communities in the Qikiqtani region and Nunavik.

The new services mean more crowded seas this summer.

NEAS and NTCL are also joined by Nunavut Sealink and Supply Inc., which serves 40 northern communities, North Warning System sites and three communities in Greenland.

Ell said that means better rates for sealift customers. "Competition is healthy," he said.