NUNAVUT - The damaged MV Avataq has finally limped into Hall Beach and Iglulik.

Nearly a month after its originally scheduled arrival, the ship was towed by a tugboat into the Hall Beach harbour the night of Oct.12.

A barge brings in the long-awaited supplies from the MV Avataq sealift to Hall Beach. - photo courtesy of Barry Tarant

"People were asking, 'when is the sealift coming, is it going to be here or is it too late?'" said Jeela Irqittuq, office clerk at the Northern store. They were worried the ice would lock in before the boat made it through, she said.

The community hasn't been going hungry. The Co-op store got its sealift six weeks ago. However the Northern was anxiously awaiting its annual shipment – 15 containers of goods as well as two vehicles.

"We almost ran out of everything; no more sugar, pops," said Irqittuq.

Customers were understanding that it was beyond the store's control, said manager Barry Tarant.

"I'm the most upset. I'm losing sales," he said.

The 113-metre Avataq was late after running into trouble in the Hudson Strait. The ship had a mechanical breakdown, near Salluit, Nunavik on Sept. 25, leaving it vulnerable to high winds – up to 75 km per hour – that threatened to run it aground. Unable to continue, a tugboat was called in from Quebec City to tow the cargo ship along its route.

"They've been saying this day, that day, delayed forever and it's finally here today," said Abraham Qammaniq, secretary-treasurer of the Hall Beach Hunters and Trappers Association (HTA) on Tuesday.

The ship pulled into Iglulik Oct. 15 at 6 p.m.

Iglulik had been "crossing their fingers" waiting to find out if they would get their supplies or not, said Carroll Macintyre, Iglulik's economic development officer.

"They were going to come in here first, but they changed their mind," he said, due to the state of the Iglulik harbour.

"Our harbour is chock-full of ice," he said. "We had a wild wind one night last week and overnight the ice came all into the harbour."

It's big, old ice from the High Arctic, Macintyre said. A coast guard icebreaker was on standby to help the Avataq through and a helicopter has been scouting for routes, he said.

If the ship couldn't make it through, the supplies were going to be unloaded in Hall Beach and airlifted by Hercules transport plane to the community, Macintyre said.

"The price I've heard mentioned [for the Hercules transport] is $2 million," he said.

The usual beach couldn't be used because of the ice, Paquin said, but hamlet officials found one that was still usable – 2.5 kilometres out of town, according to Macintyre.

The Avataq originally started with cargo for communities in Nunavik as well as Nunavut. After the breakdown, Nunavik shipments were transferred to a boat owned by the Desgagnes Transarctik shipping company, according to David Ell, Nunavut director of marketing for NEAS. In return other NEAS ships took Desgagnes cargo aboard, said Suzanne Paquin, NEAS president and CEO.

"They damaged a vessel earlier, too," she said, "It hasn't been a good year for sealift."

When the Avataq makes it back to Valleyfield, Que., it will be docked for mechanical repairs to the engine room, Paquin said. The MV Aivik has been taken off NEAS dry docks to do the Avataq's last scheduled sailing of the year. It is on the way to Pangnirtung right now, according to Ell.

Nunavut communities are not well set up for ships, he said.

"We need more mooring infrastructure for our ships to anchor off in. We need safe harbours."