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THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - The Mackenzie River may become a gateway for transporting goods from Asia to the Alberta oil sands.

Northern Transportation Company Ltd. (NTCL) has partnered with Mammoet Canada, the subsidiary of a Dutch company, to form a joint venture called Arctic Marine Inland Transportation Ltd (AMIT).

Martin Landry, project director for Arctic Module Inland Transportation (AMIT), discusses a proposed route from Asia to NWT to Fort McMurray to transport supplies to the oil sands market at a recent NWT Chamber of Commerce meeting in Yellowknife. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

To service one interested client and other potential clients in Fort McMurray, Alta, AMIT hopes to send ocean-going barges carrying modules weighing as much as 2,000 tonnes through the Northwest Passage to Tuktoyaktuk, where a port may have to be built.

The Arctic voyage would take anywhere from six to eight weeks, according to Martin Landry, project director for AMIT.

"Our client has a list of 30 modules it wants to move in its first year," said Landry, speaking recently in Yellowknife at the NWT Chamber of Commerce's annual general meeting. "Some are 1,800 tonnes and a few are 900 tonnes."

In Tuktoyaktuk, the two barges will be transferred from ocean-going barges to river-going barges and proceed to Fort Smith.

The barges will then be portaged 38 km from Fort Smith to Fort Fitzgerald, Alta, and then eventually delivered to the client site in Fort Fitzgerald.

Landry said the transportation route will make use of existing infrastructure within the marine fleet of NTCL but additional barges, called purpose-built river barges, will have to be commissioned for the project.

AMIT's report on the route is due in November and AMIT expects the client will make a decision on the route a few months later. Landry estimated shipping could begin in three years.

Besides the obvious economic benefits to NTCL, the route could have other economic spin-off effects for Fort Smith, the launch point for the portage section of the route.

"Somebody's going to have to operate the local crane," said Landry. "Mammoet has made job offers to two people in Fort Smith to get these people trained on these types of equipment."

There may also be an opportunity for NWT mining companies to have materials backhauled over a reverse route to Asia, added Landry.

"If the market allows it, we would definitely consider backhaul opportunities," said Landry. "But it has to be profitable. If it doesn't have a business case, we're not going to entertain it."

David Swisher, vice-president of Tamerlane Ventures, which is readying its Pine Point mine north of Hay River for eventual production, said Tamerlane would consider the route for taking lead and zinc to southern Asia.

Currently the company sends ore via train from Hay River to Vancouver, where it's eventually shipped off to Asia.

Swisher said a direct route from the NWT to Asia would be preferable.

Whether or not it's cost-effective remains to be seen. Swisher recently spoke with David Foster, president of NTCL, about backhauling on the route.

"His feeling was they can do anything we want them to do," said Swisher. "It's just a matter of whether or not we can make it economic and a win-win for both parties."