It’s an odd sight, but one that’s been the norm for years at Iqaluit’s beach.

On a typical day when the barges arrive, the Ministry of Transportation beach is abuzz with workers and machinery offloading cargo – loaders up to their hubs in the salty water of Frobisher Bay.

But a new deep sea port for Nunavut’s capital is set to change all that.

Construction of the $84.9-million project is slated to begin this summer, and local business owners, government officials and sealift companies are looking forward to its completion.

The deep sea port for sealifts to dock will have a barge-and-ramp method for fuel transfers and offloading cargo.

Frobisher Bay has the second highest tides in the country, rising and falling eight to 12 metres twice a day, and the delivery of goods revolves around this. At the end of the bay, goods are unloaded from the ships onto barges, which make their way to the shoreline during high tide and are unloaded. High tide only lasts about four hours a day.

It’s a laborious and time-consuming process, usually taking several days to complete.

“We could be there for two weeks sometimes,” said Suzanne Paquin, Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping (NEAS) Chief Executive Officer and President, adding this is dependent on the weather and type of cargo.

The process isn’t cheap either. But Paquin said improvements to marine infrastructure throughout Nunavut would not only decrease costs, but improve the safety and security of marine transportation as well.

“Right now we’re working on beaches, and the safety of the employees and our customers and the community members alike are not there,” she said.

The project will not only benefit Iqaluit, but communities further down the line.

“It’s a very positive step forward. Our customers will get their cargo quicker, and the communities outside Iqaluit will also get their deliveries of cargo quicker,” Paquin explained. “The sooner we discharge in Iqaluit, the sooner we can continue on navigating to the other communities.”

NEAS has been anticipating such a port for a long time, but it’s not just about time and cost savings, Paquin said. She considers the environmental benefits as well.

“You’re burning more fuel, you’re increasing your emissions,” she stated of the current process of unloading cargo without marine infrastructure. “To effectively address climate change in the Arctic, the federal government must make significant investments now.”

Opening Doors in the North

Going to tender shortly, construction is set to start in June or July after the ice dissipates, with a completion date of 2020.

The Government of Nunavut has contributed $21.2 million to the project, with the federal government adding $63.7 million.

With all of Nunavut’s communities located along the coastline, the new port gives Iqaluit the opportunity to open the door to other Northern areas in a territory that currently only has one actual docking facility. That small craft harbour is located in Pangnirtung – 300 km northeast of Iqaluit along the shore of Pangnirtung Fjord.

Juanie Pudluk, Manager of Project Management at the Department of Community and Government Services, estimates the project could create about 30 jobs during construction.

He noted a major goal in the project right now is to ensure the public is happy with its scope. The government has consulted with Iqalummiut on it, including the Boaters Consultation Group representing local boaters.

The new port adds to the other transportation improvements the city has received recently. Two years ago, Iqaluit’s airport underwent a $300-million improvement, adding a massive new terminal.

Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern said the project will be very beneficial to the community of 7,740.

She noted it is possible the port could bring new and different types of uses – from fishing vessels to naval vessels.

It will be the first and only deep sea port for Nunavut, where such facilities have been a long-term goal for over a decade. In 2006, federal ministers proposed multiple ports across the territory, with more than $40 million set to be dedicated over the course of five years. Those designs, however, were shelved.

Once completed, the port will be operated by the Government of Nunavut. Open from about the beginning of July to the end of October while the ice is gone, the daily operations will be contracted out.

With two providers bringing in shipments regularly, Iqaluit has cargo vessels coming in about 10 times throughout the season, said John Hawkins, assistant deputy minister of Nunavut’s Department of Economic Development and Transportation. Although it won’t have a big impact on the time it takes fuel tankers to deliver, it will mean much more efficiencies for sealifts.

“They’re about five days anchored to do that now, and we think we can cut that down to more like 48 hours,” Hawkins explained.

With the deep sea port being located further out of the city than the current beach where goods arrive, there will be more trucking employment opportunities as well as marshalling and some port operations jobs, Hawkins said.

Potential benefits to tourism

In addition to the deep sea port, the community will also be getting a small craft harbour, which will benefit boaters and fishers, the mayor said. It will offer local residents a place to launch their boats and store them in a safe area.

“I’m happy that both facilities are being built, and should be completed around the same time,” she said.

The small craft harbour will also offer a place for tourists to arrive via smaller boats from cruise ships.

It’s an added bonus to Iqaluit businesses.

Redfern said the community also hopes the cost savings from the improved method of delivering goods will be passed down to consumers.

Business owners are excited at the potential for this as well.

Ocean freight is the least expensive way to transport goods on a tonne-kilometre basis, but its costs are driven by the complicated loading process prior to shipping north, as well as inconsistent or absent harbour and docking facilities, according to a study conducted by Enrg Research Group at the request of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (now Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada). The report, Northern Food Retail Data Collection & Analysis, was published in 2014.

It highlighted that in 2012, North West Company’s NorthMart grocery and retail store in Iqaluit had freight costs of $5.41 million to stock its 41,000-square-foot facility. 

The 16,800-square-foot NorthMart in La Ronge, 

Saskatchewan, which has all-weather road freight access, paid $0.33 million.

According to NEAS, the savings resulting from efficiencies with the new port will be felt within the remote, Northern communities.

At Arctic Ventures Market Place, management is waiting to see just how the time and corresponding cost savings might reduce its prices in the future.

The retailer offers food, clothing, hardware, office supplies, electronics, machinery and parts services, and other goods in store, as well as a gas bar and convenience store, with goods arriving by ship required to last months at a time through freeze up.

“It stands to reason that if they take less time unloading or if there’s less damages because the containers are handled differently that there’s going to be some savings there,” said Duane Wilson, Vice President of Stakeholder Relations with Arctic Co-operatives Ltd. “But how that actually reflects in their rates is ultimately what’s going to be the largest determinate of how the retail price is impacted.”

There’s also the potential for goods typically arriving by air to be transported by water if it can reach the destination prior to the “best before” date, he added. Currently, any grocery items that are shelf stable will arrive in a 20-foot sea container aboard a sealift, as this is dramatically cheaper. Other items such as vegetables and dairy arrive by air more frequently.

While groceries and other items in Nunavut still cost two to three times the national average, it’s more than just the freight that’s the culprit. Drastically higher utility rates and the cost of bringing in specialized trades to complete repairs and maintenance add up as well, Wilson pointed out.

Goods are typically shipped to the community between early July and the end of October, and once in operation the deep sea port will follow this same seasonal delivery schedule.

The project will also include the construction of a road leading from the port, and Iqaluit’s landfill will be relocated, as it is currently right by the future site of the deep sea port.

“We’re working so hard to try to secure money to close down that dump and to cap it,” explained Redfern.

She hopes this can be accomplished before the new port is completed so it won’t be the first thing people see as they’re coming in to shore. It’s a costly but beneficial move.

The overall project will be a historic one for Nunavut.

And, for Iqaluit at least, the arrival of goods by water won’t seem so archaic anymore.

“We’ve got people that come here and say, ‘That looks like something from the Flintstones,’” Hawkins said of the current process of offloading barges. “We’ve been kind of worried about the capacity of that beach and the operation of it. This is a project that we’ve been looking at for a long time.”