‘Largest Canadian-owned fishing vessel’ christened in Iqaluit
Community celebrates as Baffin Fisheries’ Inuksuk II sets sail after many setbacks
Baffin Fisheries CEO Chris Flanagan, left, and board member Jimmy Akavak toast the christening of Inuksuk II, the company’s newest fishing vessel, Tuesday in Iqaluit. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
It took a dozen swings for Baffin Fisheries chairperson Kelly Kilabuk to break a champagne bottle on the hull of the Inuksuk II.
But when the glass shattered, the journey was finally over. The Nunavut-owned fishery company could set sail into its next era.
“I can remember many, many years ago, we said, ‘One day we’re going to build this vessel, we’re going to sail it into Iqaluit and we’re going to smash the champagne bottle against the hull,’” CEO Chris Flanagan said in an interview.
“It’s going to deliver a lot of returns for many years, so I’m thrilled.”
Inuksuk II, Baffin Fisheries’ newest vessel, was christened during a ceremony at the Iqaluit deepsea port Tuesday attended by at least 50 employees, board members, government officials and community members.
Inuksuk II is the third fishing vessel in the company’s fleet. It replaces Inuksuk I, a vessel the company has since sold to a buyer in the Faroe Islands.
Getting the ship to port in Iqaluit has taken several years.
After announcing the $72.5-million purchase of the vessel in 2021, Baffin Fisheries encountered several delays and challenges.
COVID-19 made access to the shipyard in Turkey difficult, and a Russian attack on a Ukrainian metal supplier delayed construction, Flanagan said.
Last October, an engine failure stalled the vessel on its maiden voyage, forcing a return to Turkey for repairs.
In January, Inuksuk II arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The vessel is 79.5 metres long, nine storeys tall from the top deck to the bottom storage area, and carries a crew of 32.
“It’s the largest Canadian-owned fishing vessel,” Flanagan said.
On board, there is a fish processing plant, which can process 55 tons of turbot and 65 tons of shrimp per day.
In total, the ship has the capacity to hold 1,200 tons of turbot and 900 tons of shrimp.
In addition to the new range of computers for mapping, the crew’s quarters include improved internet service, and amenities such as a gym and sauna.
“Our general trip now is six to seven weeks, so you need good accommodations to keep everybody comfortable and the internet to keep people connected with home as well,” said Shane Noonan, the ship’s captain, adding workers used to be able to call home only once a week.
Baffin Fisheries is jointly owned by the hunters and trappers associations of Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Clyde River, Pangnirtung and Pond Inlet.
Acquiring and operating the Inuksuk II is a “Canadian success story,” Flanagan said, with hopes the vessel could operate for the next 25 to 30 years.
While Flanagan is set to retire as CEO in August, he’s excited to see what Inuksuk II brings to its community owners — a sentiment Kilabuk shares.
“It is owned by Inuit here on Inuit land, in Iqaluit, and it’s been a lot of work,” she said.
“It’s many years of a vision that has become reality.”
Inuksuk II. the newest addition to the Baffin Fisheries fleet, is docked at the Iqaluit port Tuesday. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Congratulations, big step to take but one that is needed to grow the fishing industry for Nunavut, now with this big purchase you will also need to have a training school for marine fisheries in Nunavut, they do a excellent job in Nuuk for their people maybe a partnership is needed to start off.
We could call it something like the “Nunavut Fisheries and Marine Training Consortium” (NFMTC for short)?
According to maritime superstition It’s bad luck for a vessel and her crew when the bottle doesn’t break on the first swing
How do the HTAs afford a $72.5 million ship
The article quotes mentioning it as years in the works. Perhaps learn to read before posting and judging hard working folks. This group deserves our long awaited congratulations for a job well done.
Through lucrative fisheries quotas.
BFC has been in operation for about 2 decades. If they can’t afford a 72.5 million dollar ship with all the turbot and shrimp quota, they are doing something wrong
Thanks, BC; what’s BF’s annual revenue?
Must be nice to give new Board all the credits as the other previous board members sure pushed this well ahead of thinking for future and grow the business ,
Let’s turn back time for a decade everyone should asked questions who was hired each year from 2014 and upto date and who almost crashed the business had its ups and downs and hope the new future board will be well looked at if they don’t over pay there salaries again ,
There is 2 sides to everything good board members and bad board members who is after Money and who is not ,
Can the meeting minutes be available to public to see ,
Will asked the question once we visit the HTO Office if Available just for my eyes only on BFC minutes,
No public information has been given to some HTOs at there AGM and find some conflicts in some areas no one seems to care of how BFC is running,
Going to keep the eyes and ears open and see the future on them always.
Eyes & Ears
People do care but the old boys do everything in the dark and everyone else out.
So much room for grift.
I was at the ceremony, there was lots of praise and recognition for past board members.
It can process 55 tons of turbot and 65 tons of shrimp per DAY. It will catch 10x that amount as bycatch and throw it back into the water, dead. Think about how much that is. It should be named “Destroyer of the Sea”. This monster ship will scape and destroy thousands of kilometers of the sea floor each year in search of shrimp. Hard to believe HTO’s think this could ever be sustainable. This is a massive step in the wrong direction.
100% true and an absolute shame on us for allowing and ignoring this destruction.
environemental green vegetarian people allways saying, save the whale,save the poor little shrimp,dont weir fur. i eat shrimp and dont care about their futile fake news of a little bit of toss sand is a major destruction, put all those vegetarian people on a desert island with meat, after a while thell have no choice to eat it ha ha ha