Kivalliq (Aug 16/06) - Sealift season is back and shipping companies must once again make the journey to the world's only inland Inuit community, Baker Lake.

Travelling 200 kilometres from the entrance of Chesterfield Inlet to the west side of Baker Lake presents some logistical challenges, but nothing an experienced shipper can't handle, said Grant Cool, CEO of Kivalliq Marine, the company that ships dry goods to Baker Lake.

That's despite a series of narrow passages and currents that can reach 10 knots in places, Cool said.

"The area has been serviced for a long time without any problems," he said.

And the inlet is shallow; the amount of a ship's hull that can be below the water line is limited to 15 feet.

Kivalliq Marine uses a barge to traverse the inlet and haul 2,000 tonnes of cargo from Churchill, Manitoba. But the barge, propelled by the tugboat Hudson Bay Explorer, can carry far more: it has a capacity of 5,800 tonnes.

"Everything in the town (of Baker Lake) you could put in the barge and move in and out," Cool said.

It's mainly the shallow water that is the challenge for shippers heading to Baker Lake, agrees Waguih Rayes, the general manager of Desgagnes Transarctik.

That company uses ships as far as the Hamlet of Chesterfield Inlet, then transfers cargo bound for Baker Lake onto the barge Kaligak, which is more than 50-metres long and more than 12-metres wide. "That's a large barge," he said.

Rayes said his company hasn't had any problems since its service to Baker Lake started in 2003.

"We have always deployed the same technique," he said.