Yellowknife (Apr 13/05) - The Mackenzie River is breaking up and as of 3 p.m. Thursday the ice road is closed to all traffic.

But that has no effect on cargo by air, either as a hop over the river, or all the way to Yellowknife.

A Nogha-Canadian helicopter hovers over a flatbed to deliver freight during break-up at the Mackenzie ice road last year. The Department of Transportation is shutting down the road Thursday at 3 p.m. - NNSL file photo

Glen Cohan, co-chief pilot with Great Slave Helicopters, says his company will be involved in shuttling freight as required over the mighty Mackenzie for RTL Robinson Enterprises Ltd.

"To some degree it's a simple operation," said Cohen.

The shuttle service runs on a Tuesday through Saturday basis until the end of the season, said RTL's Jeremy Ball.

The air shuttle operation is provided to all Northern carriers.

The service is vital to assisting businesses deliver fresh supplies to Northern residents, said Ball.

"It is the carrier's responsibility to ensure the pallets are not higher than six feet and total weight per lift is not over 3,400 pounds," said Ball.

"We employ roughly six local residents from Fort Providence each year. This crew has been working together for a number of years and it shows with the productivity that is produced," he said.

Ryan Fawcett and Kelly Kalo, spokespersons with Canadian North, say the biggest aspect of the break-up for businesses is planning ahead.

The high number of containers at Wal-Mart and Extra Foods are a testament to businesses that have thought about being cut off from the south, said Fawcett.

Canadian North's aircraft can adjust accordingly.

"We have the flexibility of the combi-aircraft where we can move the aircraft's bulkhead back and have some nice cargo flexibility. And we can add more aircraft if demand warrants," said Kalo.

Art Barns, regional superintendent for the South Slave region of the territorial government's Department of Transportation, said on Monday that the ice road at Fort Providence was to be closed to light traffic by noon today, and completely shut down by Thursday at

3 p.m.

That is the same time as last year's ice road closure. The earliest closure was on April 12 several years ago.

It's usually three or four weeks before the Fort Providence ferry gets up and running again.

"That depends on when the ice clears. There's a transitional period where the ice is coming out of the lake and the ferry has to stop," he said.

In his review of the data, Barns was hoping to see a correlation between an early break up and an early start to ferry operations, but unfortunately that's not the case, he said.

"After the ice bridge closes, it's all weather sensitive - depending on snow fall, rain fall and wind - affecting ice coming out of the lake."

Over the past few years, the ferry has been up and running on average by May 14.