Hay River (June 16/03) - A tugboat from Hay River is about to begin a new life on Lake Athabasca in northern Alberta.

The 48-foot F40, along with a barge, are expected to begin the journey to their new home this week. The trip will mean sailing to Fort Resolution then up the Slave River, including a portage from Fort Smith to Fort Fitzgerald to avoid rapids.

The new owner is Camsell Portage Freighting.

Gabe Stenne, a co-owner of the small family business, says the tugboat and barge will be used to move freight, such as food, fuel, vehicles and even houses. "Whatever is out there to move."

It will service communities on Lake Athabasca and down the Slave River as far as Fort Fitzgerald.

Stenne purchased the tugboat and the 400-tonne barge last year from Northern Transportation Company Limited.

"She's a nice little tugboat," he says.

The F40 was built in 1975 in Holland, and came to Canada in the late 1980s to help service oil exploration vessels in the Beaufort Sea.

The tug was put back in the water June 9 after being at the NTCL dockyard in Hay River for about five years. It had been purchased by NTCL as surplus from Canadian Marine Drilling Ltd.

Stenne says he was lucky to find the tugboat, and thanked NTCL for its help. "If I hadn't found this, I probably wouldn't be freighting now."