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K'ATLODEECHE/HAY RIVER - The Tuktoyaktuk harbour, the Mackenzie Valley highway and the pipeline were all the talk of the town as exhibitors and delegates convened last week in Hay River for the second bi-annual Start Your Engines Transportation Logistics Show.

Jim Guthrie, general manager of Kulluk Arctic Services ULC, says the territorial government must make dredging the Tuktoyaktuk harbour a priority so Northern communities don't miss out on the spin-off transportation opportunities associated with future offshore drilling in the Beaufort Sea. - NNSL file photo

Jim Guthrie, general manager of Kulluk Arctic Services, got the ball rolling quickly following a brief speech by Hay River North MLA Paul Delorey.

His loud, booming voice projecting sharply across the Hay River downtown arena without a microphone, Guthrie expressed his concern that between all the talk of territorial government support for increased NWT infrastructure, the Tuktoyaktuk harbour is getting left out.

Guthrie said he's afraid companies like BP Energy and Exxon Mobil - which have sparked rumours of an offshore drilling boom by investing billions of dollars on land in the Beaufort Sea - will build their own large ships to transport crucial drilling and exploration supplies to site because the Tuktoyaktuk harbour is currently too shallow toaccommodate large, icebreaking ships.

According to Guthrie, that would leave companies like Northern Transportation Company Ltd. (NTCL) in the dust and surrounding communities like Tuktoyaktuk without spin-off effects.

"The real weakness in this whole transportation system is the other end of the river, is Tuktoyaktuk," said Guthrie, speaking directly to Delorey.

"If we don't develop Tuk, if we don't dredge that harbour so that bigger ships and icebreakers can come in there, what's going to happen with that development is those oil companies are going to build huge warships."

"And it won't do a damn thing for Hay River or this river system or our train system."

Delorey responded there's no way the territorial government can fund the project alone.

"We continue to express our concerns to the federal government," said Delorey, later adding "Things in government move very slowly when you get to the federal government level."

The pipeline also figured into the conversation following a presentation by Bob Reid, president of the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, which will receive a third of the revenues to flow from the project.

The joint review panel, which was convened in 2004 to give its assessment of the project's potential socioeconomic and environmental impact on the communities in the valley, has delayed its final report, saying it won't be ready until sometime next year.

That doesn't sit well with Ray Anderson, president and owner of Matco Transportation.

Essentially told by Reid that there is nothing he can do to spur the JRP, Anderson expressed his disappointment that an independent body like the JRP is delaying improvements to his business.

"We can't go ahead with our own infrastructure capital improvements without some certainty," he said.

"We're reluctant on spending $100,000 on upgrading a warehouse in Norman Wells due to the uncertainty of development."

A total of 200 delegates, which included 55 exhibitors, attended the transportation show, according to conference co-ordinator Tracy Therrien.