HAY RIVER - Northern Transportation Company Ltd. (NTCL) is planning to sell its vacant administration building and some other property in Hay River.

Northern Transportation Company Ltd.'s administration building in Hay River is going up for sale. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"It's not really anything different than when a family holds a garage sale," said Bert Vanderperk, the company's corporate controller in Edmonton. "From time to time, you identify things that are no longer going to be required and you put them up for sale."

Vanderperk said NTCL owns a fair bit of vacant land in Hay River and there are a number of pieces identified as potential candidates for sale.

"Just to be clear, it's absolutely nothing that affects operations in any way," he said, explaining barging and shipyard operations will continue as usual.

The administration building and other properties should be up for sale in a month or two.

The sale of the administration building - a prominent white structure on Vale Island - will be a reminder of the company's move earlier this year to eliminate eight administrative positions in Hay River and move administration to Edmonton.

That decision was prompted by the high cost of maintaining operations out of Hay River in the face of declining revenue from the Mackenzie River route, plus significant movement of customer traffic to the company's new West Coast route, which delivers goods to the NWT and Nunavut from Richmond, B.C.

Vanderperk said no one is currently working in the administration building, adding some have moved to office space at the shipyard facility.

We welcome your opinions. Click to e-mail a letter to the editor.