RANKIN INLET/NUNAVUT
Kivalliq Arctic Foods (KAF) is taking a hard hit to its financial bottom line because the Rankin Inlet-based company can't get product shipped to its customers on a timely basis, said its plant manager this past week.

Kivalliq Arctic Foods plant manager Todd Johnson worries over the impact that not being able to move product in a timely manner is having on the company's bottom line in Rankin Inlet this past week. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Todd Johnson said the best scenario at the present time is an ugly one.

He said on the increasingly rare occasions KAF product is accepted, it faces excessive delays in reaching its customers.

"On numerous occasions, we've been informed that our goods can't be received because there's no room for them to be shipped," said Johnson.

"First Air handles most of our finished product being shipped east, but Calm Air has taken over First Air's freezer and is administering most of the cargo leaving Rankin Inlet now.

"Calm has plugged-up most of the freezers and caused massive delays for us when we're trying to ship our goods through First Air.

"We've had consistent issues with getting product shipped ever since Calm Air signed all these deals and arrangements with First Air and Canadian North."

Johnson said the situation has resulted in a noticeable decrease in sales volume for the company because he can rarely commit to a delivery time a customer is satisfied with.

He said it's a very troublesome situation that's negatively affecting KAF in a big way.

"When I tell some customers it will be at least two weeks before I can even hope to get their order out of town, it's been resulting in a cancellation of the order.

"At the end of the day, this is definitely hurting our company's bottom line. We haven't reached the point where we have to lay any of our employees off but, should this situation with the airlines in Rankin Inlet keep going the way that it has been, then unfortunately anything can happen.

"One of Calm Air's co-ordinating managers, whose name I can't recall, came to my office this past July and said these problems would be solved as soon as he left, but that's not the way things have played out."

Johnson said Calm Air has told him the problem would be solved over and over again since the day of that July visit.

He said not only have the problems not stopped, they seem to be getting worse.

"In my opinion, things are going in the opposite direction of the way they should be. Calm Air has not told me, personally, that it's increasing its freezer capacity which, on the surface, would be great.

"But from what I've seen so far, that would only mean instead of me storing product here under perfect controls, it would sit up in Calm Air's freezer for two weeks before it gets shipped to my customers.

"As I understand it, there's very limited room in that Summit jet for the transport of cargo and the runs that were available with First Air, that were getting our product throughout the territory in a timely manner, were dropped."

Johnson said the new airline schedules no longer have a freighter going to Baker Lake or Coral Harbour, nor is there a weekend freighter going to Iqaluit to allow KAF product to be dispersed throughout the large customer base of the Baffin region.

He said the present situation is severely limiting what KAF is able to do at this particular point in time.

"If things aren't fixed by the end of this year, we're going to start running into some serious problems.

"That would be almost six months for the airlines to have all these new arrangements organized, and we were told it would be under 30 days, but six months is a far cry from 30 days.

"Earlier in this whole mess they've made for us, we were sending two cases of goods to Chesterfield Inlet that were each about the size of two shoe boxes laid side by side.

"It took them just under three weeks to get to my customers in Chesterfield Inlet from Rankin Inlet."

Johnson said almost three weeks to fly a small shipment to Chester from Rankin is outrageous.

He said no company can operate efficiently under those conditions.

"I could easily have walked the parcels to Chester faster than that.

"It's a horrible situation for us here at Kivalliq Arctic Foods, and we just want to honestly know what, and when, Calm Air is going to do something about it."

Due to ongoing inclement weather in the Rankin area and other mitigating factors in the situation, Calm Air declined to comment on the situation.

A spokesperson for the company said Calm Air would address the situation in the Dec. 2 edition of Kivalliq News.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.