Andrea Markey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Oct 17/05) - Plans to build a deep-water port here are advancing, with the final feasibility study presented to city council during its October meeting.

"There are a million reasons why we should build the port," said Kim Rizzi, Iqaluit's economic development officer. "And I have been given the go-ahead by council to find the funding."

Unloading sealift cargo to a barge for transport to land is time-consuming, costly and can be dangerous. A deep-water port in Iqaluit would allow large tankers and cruise ships to dock near town. - NNSL file photo

In 1980 a feasibility study was completed by Industry Canada that estimated a port would cost $10 million.

Twenty-five years later, the port is expected to cost $49 million to build, with $2.4 million in operating and maintenance costs each year.

The new feasibility study indicates a user fee could cover the annual operating costs.

Rizzi is organizing a committee of interested groups to lobby the territorial and federal governments for the money this fall.

The schedule, dependent on funding, would see construction start in July 2008 and the port in operation by October 2009. A small-craft harbour is included in the plans for the area, large enough to dock oil tankers and cruise ships.

The report estimates the port would result in a 60 per cent reduction in unloading times for petroleum tankers and an 80 per cent reduction for general cargo ships. Currently, freight ships spend an average of four days waiting to unload.

Fishing vessels would also be able to dock in the port, saving the 12-day round trip to Newfoundland and back to unload.

"We could even look at a fish processing plant here," said Rizzi.

Annual cost savings for three main user groups, general cargo, petroleum product vessels and fisheries, is estimated at between $3.4 million and $4.9 million with a minimum of 30 ships docking in Iqaluit each year.

"Right now Nunavut is pretty sexy," she said. "Everyone wants to come to the Arctic."

But without a place to dock, cruise ships travelling to Nunavut often bypass Iqaluit because it is too difficult and dangerous to off-load passengers and refuel.

The report indicates that, of the 10 cruise ships cleared by customs to visit Nunavut in 2005, only one had Iqaluit on its itinerary.

"If the Government of Nunavut can get this done, great," said Suzanne Paquin, vice-president of Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping. "Any port is better than no port. But the reality is we serve 20 communities and every community needs something, even if it is just a place to land on the beach."

Since the company works 24 hours a day during the short open-water season, facilities with lights would be helpful, she said.

Paquin points to Nunavik, where communities are developing their marine infrastructure and building docking facilities in many areas.

There are only two other large-scale transportation infrastructure projects being considered in the territory.

The Kitikmeot Corporation has been lobbying for a port and road at Bathurst Inlet for a number of years and studies have been done on connecting the Kivalliq with a road to Manitoba.