Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 14, 2007

RANKIN INLET/BAKER LAKE - A late-season barge to Rankin Inlet limped into Itivia listing badly and coated with ice this past week.

The Northern Transportation Company Ltd. (NTCL) also had two barges bound for Baker Lake make port in Rankin after being turned around by bad ice conditions.

NTCL manager of communications Sunny Munroe said the company's operations department assured her there was no danger to the public or the freight on board the barge that barely docked in Rankin.

She said the listing was due to a shift of ballast water from one tank to another.

The water was pumped out and the freight off-loaded as soon as it was safe to do so.

"The tug taking two barges into Baker Lake had to turn back because of ice in the narrows in the channel on the way into Baker," said Munroe.

"That tug had faced delays leaving Churchill, then had to return to Churchill for repairs shortly after departing.

"Repairs took a few days and then, on its second attempt, it ran into bad weather that caused further delays.

"Finally, it had to turn back because of ice."

Munroe said NTCL is looking at other options to move the freight to Baker.

She said there was no freight belonging to the Nunavut government on either barge, and what was not owned by mining company Agnico-Eagle was community cargo.

"We will work out a separate arrangement with Agnico-Eagle to get its cargo to Baker.

"It was a challenging season in the Kivalliq.

"We had a major customer trying to get everything ready to build a major project in Baker, so there's bound to be some hiccups along the way."

Munroe said the freight bound for Rankin and Baker had arrived in Churchill well after the cut-off date.

She said cargo departing Churchill so late in the season is more susceptible to weather delays and cancellations than usual.

"NTCL believed that freight could be delivered and, had we not run into problems, we would have done so.

"NTCL tried hard to get the freight into Baker and Rankin, knowing that some of it was for people in the community.

"We would never have taken the cargo had we not thought we could deliver it.

"Community cargo is important to us and we tried hard to get into Baker."

Munroe said NTCL was pleased to be able to offer better operations and more deliveries to some communities this year, especially Rankin, as a result of the extra tugs and barges it had available to ship Meadowbank freight.

She said Meadowbank is a large mining project that will have some startup and logistical challenges.

"We have tried our best to meet those challenges, while also ensuring community cargo gets delivered in a timely fashion.

"NTCL hopes to further improve and refine its service next year, and is going to hire a full-time senior staff person to be based in Rankin, but with responsibility for community freight in the Kivalliq.

"We will also have a purser - someone who ensures the freight gets delivered to those who ordered it - travel with the tug and barge that goes to the communities.

"That will go a long way to ensure smoother community deliveries."