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IQALUIT
An icebreaker was escorting two vessels through Frobisher Bay on Friday as winds and currents have pushed heavy ice into their path.

The Canadian Coast Guard Ship Henry Larsen, right foreground, escorts the fuel tanker Nanny in Frobisher Bay on July 11. The fuel tanker reached Iqaluit late on July 11. - photo courtesy of Environment Canada

A southeasterly wind is pushing the ice into the bay, preventing some vessels from reaching Iqaluit, said Linda LeBlanc, superintendent of icebreaking services in the Canadian Coast Guard's central and Arctic region.

LeBlanc said the escorting has already begun, with the CCGS Henry Larsen having successfully escorted another tanker, the Nanny, to Iqaluit late on July 11.

LeBlanc explained the ice field was stretching about 80 nautical miles and contains areas with an ice pack ranging from 30 per cent to more than 90 per cent of the water covered with ice.

"We haven't seen an ice pack being held into Frobisher Bay like this since 2009," said LeBlanc.

"At the exterior of the bay, it's pretty congested with ice. The wind is our biggest culprit right now, pushing the ice into the land so it's creating pressure on the ice."

The Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Terry Fox was escorting one tanker and one cargo ship into Iqaluit on Friday, explained LeBlanc.

The Nunavut Sealink and Supply Inc. (NSSI) ship Zelada Desgagnes was about 15 nautical miles from Iqaluit on Friday afternoon, but did not need icebreaker services since its body is ice strengthened. The ice deferred its arrival by a day, as it was originally scheduled to arrive in the territorial capital on July 12, according to the NSSI sealift cargo delivery schedule.

NSSI's Anna Desgagnes was schedule to arrive in Iqaluit on July 13. It changed its schedule, however, due to the ice and is visiting two Nunavik communities and will return to Iqaluit on July 18.

"The delays are not like a week or so. It depends how the wind is going to change and when the wind is going to change and usually it's a matter of a day or two" said Waguih Rayes, general manager with Desgagnes Transarctik Inc. "Clients are used to that."

Other than the ice condition in Iqaluit, the season has started very well, said Rayes, with ice conditions being generally better than average.

"With our ships going through, it's hard for the vessels to follow because of the ice pressure. It collapses the ice behind our vessel so it's hard for them to follow us through the ice," said LeBlanc.

Rayes said records show the risk is very high for vessels that want to go to Iqaluit prior to the seventh or ninth of July because of the ice.

“Come mid-July, everything is dissipated," he said. "I don't have anything that says past mid-July, we have any crisis or any bad situation with the ice."

The Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping (NEAS) vessels are on schedule, stated Suzanne Paquin, president and CEO in an e-mail. MV Umiavut had an estimated arrival date of July 13 and was being escorted in by the CCGS Terry Fox on Friday afternoon.

"Two NEAS vessels, the Aivik and the Umiavut, are set to discharge in Iqaluit. We just need the ice and weather conditions to co-operate," she stated . "A third NEAS vessel, the Qamutik, will be calling on Iqaluit (this) week."

The Aivik was scheduled to be in Iqaluit on July 15.

LeBlanc said Environment Canada is predicting the wind will subside mid-July.

"We're hoping by (this) week, the winds will be coming from the North to help push the ice out of the bay," she said.

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