Iqaluit mayor major booster of Iqaluit deep water port

GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS

Hunters, fishers, shipping companies and residents throughout the Baffin region would benefit from a multi-million-dollar deep water port in the territory’s capital, according to a study group.

Iqaluit mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik listed the perks of the port during a recent press conference about an on-going feasibility study to improve the community’s marine infrastructure.

“Everyone will benefit,” Sheutiapik told reporters gathered in council chambers on May 27.

“As we move forward with Nunavut, I think it only makes sense.”

A City of Iqaluit consultant is working on what he calls an “integrated vision” of how the port would serve several key groups, such as the Baffin Fisheries Coalition, shipping companies, Inuit organizations, and the Amarok Hunters and Trappers Association.

City officials and consultants met members of those groups, plus federal and territorial officials, for a brainstorming session last week, as part of a $100,000 update on a study done 15 years ago.

The study update is financed by the government of Nunavut.

In the group’s view, the port would consist of a large wharf near the causeway point, where ships normally go to unload fuel in the summer during high tide.

The group hasn’t produced any estimate cost for the new port. But a feasibility study in 1980 gave the project a $10 million price tag.

Sheutiapik warned that city hall is only serving as a facilitator for the project. She said other governments and investors would have to pay for the new infrastructure.

Terry Forth, of Aarluk Consulting, said a port would allow large vessels to come into the Iqaluit area any time of day during the shipping season, regardless of the tides.

That means sealift ships would no longer have to send barges to the beach only at select times. Instead, they would dock at a concrete platform, where large cranes could transfer cargo directly from shipping vessels, straight into a truck, reducing shipping prices for all Baffin communities.

Forth said the port would also create a space for industrial fishing trawlers to unload their catch, even though Iqaluit currently lacks a processing plant.

The trawlers would still take advantage of the port for re-fueling, he said, and smaller boats could pick up the catch to ship elsewhere.

City staff said they were largely excited about cruise ships carrying high-rolling tourists coming into the community, if they had port facilities for docking.

“There are cruise lines that go right by us because there’s nowhere to fuel up, and nowhere to leave their passengers,” said Kim Rizzi, Iqaluit community economic development officer.

The group says they still have to complete a second phase of the study, before determining who might fund a future port in Iqaluit.

If they find funding, they expect it would take one year to clear regulatory hurdles for construction, plus a year to build the port.