Christine Grimard
Northern News Services
Wednesday, May 09, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Grocers foot bills three times higher than usual, and plan months ahead of time to keep shelves stocked during breakup.

"You know that it's coming," said Ben Walker, general manager of the Yellowknife Co-op. "You know it's going to happen this time of year."

With the Mackenzie River ice crossing at Fort Providence closed, and the ferry out-of-service, this can be tricky time to keep perishables in stock.

"Transportation and logistics are a little bit complicated this time of the year," said Rob Byers, store manager for Extra Foods on Old Airport Road.

Two months ahead of the expected road closure, the stores stock up on heavy goods such as water, flour and sugar.

Walker said Co-op stores four tractor-trailer loads of heavy goods on site, buying as much as they can before the road closes.

During breakup, perishable items get shuttled over the Mackenzie River via helicopter by the pallet-load.

"This is what's keeping the milk on the shelves, that's for sure," said Cheryl Robinson, a spokesperson for RTL-Robinson Enterprise Ltd., which provides the shuttling service.

Transport trucks drive to Fort Providence. The stock is then unloaded and hooked up to what crews call a horse, essentially a pallet jack that can be swung into the air. Helicopters contracted by Great Slave helicopters then shuttle the stock across the river. Then the cargo is reloaded into another truck for the final stretch to Yellowknife.

The helicopter shuttle service only runs five days a week, meaning everything has to be ordered a week in advance. This is why some items might be found under-stocked, or overstocked, if the store didn't foresee what was going to sell, said Walker.

The cost of using the helicopter shuttle increases shipping expenses. Byers said Extra Foods probably spends from $150,000 to $200,000 more on transportation.

That cost, however, isn't passed onto the consumer as both Co-op and Extra Foods make it a store policy not to increase prices this time of the year.

"We just take it in the chin," said Paul Beaton, assistant manager of the downtown Extra Foods.

While perishables can be tricky to keep on the shelves, all the stores reported that they haven't had trouble keeping the shelves stocked this year. After years of experience, they say they're prepared for what it takes to keep the shelves full.

The NWT Department of Transportation expects the ferry to be operating around May 16.