NWT/NUNAVUT
Responding to a competitive market, Northern Transportation Company Ltd. (NTCL) is mulling a new east coast shipping option to prevent the loss of more Kitikmeot business to rival companies like Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping (NEAS) and Nunavut Sealink and Supply Inc. (NSSI), which are both based in Montreal and capable of shipping goods faster to the Kitikmeot region.

"The Montreal route into, say, Cambridge Bay, (which is used) as a central hub, is probably about 10 days shorter than out of Vancouver," said John Marshall, vice-president of marketing and business development for NTCL.

"In 2011, we're looking at having an operation where we bring the barges out of Montreal as well, and the reason is because we have lost clients like the Northern stores, whose buying power is from Proctor and Gamble and Bombardier, out of Montreal and Toronto, and it makes no sense for them to ship their cargo to the West Coast."

A Montreal route to service Kitikmeot communities would be the latest in a recent series of changes at NTCL, which appointed its new president, William Duffy, on Sept. 7. Duffy, former vice president of operations for McKeil Marine Ltd., a family-owned tug and barge company serving the Great Lakes through to the Eastern Arctic, replaces David Foster, who stepped down as president almost one year ago.

Last year marked the first time NTCL began shipping goods from Richmond, B.C., as a cheaper option to customers compared to Hay River - the company's long-used origin point for launching tugs and barges into the Arctic.

The company began shipping fuel from the West Coast long before that.

"We noticed six years ago that we had to transition Hay River somewhere else because of the cost in order to land goods in, say, Taloyoak or Gjoa Haven," said Marshall. "The prices that we were charging to deliver fuel was totally unacceptable. We've lowered that price by 80 per cent coming from the West Coast."

NTCL cut eight administration jobs in Hay River last year, and though Marshall said only 16 per cent of the company's revenue will likely continue to come from the Hub, the community should not be counted out.

"Hay River is not dead by no stretch of the imagination," said Marshall. "Hay River will always, always remain a part of NTCL, not only because of the cargo that we ship, but it's the home port for the maintenance of our fleet as well."

The town of 3,724 people typically boasts 50 NTCL workers during the summer, 10 during the rest of the year.

"Hay River will still support those numbers," said Marshall.

Several communities in the Kivalliq region are still waiting for their last resupply, and some that have received theirs got them as much as two months late this year. NTCL is not denying it made mistakes, said Marshall.

"We obviously have had problems in the Kivalliq this year. The problems that we had were more mechanical on the vessel, which is not an excuse and really is not acceptable to our customers. We should have had a replacement vessel in place a lot quicker than we did."

The company will work to repair the vessel this winter.

"There's no danger of any of the communities in the ... Kivalliq (not receiving their cargo.)"

NTCL is most commonly associated with community resupplies, but that's not all it does.

This summer, the company provided fuel and support for a Beaufort Sea seismic project conducted by GX Technology, a Houston-based company that does spec seismic work then sells the information to oil and gas operators like BP and Imperial Oil.

With BP and Imperial both in possession of exploration licenses in the Beaufort Sea - and both having stated their intentions to produce either oil or gas from the region - NTCL is keeping an eye on the offshore sector, said Marshall.

"When these guys buy the offshore leases, they're committed to spend (a certain) per cent within five years," he said.

Onshore, the Mackenzie Gas Project also looms potentially large. The shipment of majority of the pipe to 10 staging areas along the Mackenzie River presents a "huge opportunity" for NTCL.

"It's huge and it's huge for Hay River, as well, because there will be probably two-thirds of the pipe coming through Hay River, if it ever happens," said Marshall.

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