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Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Yahoo
Low water, short lead times pose challenges for Sahtu barge season
The Northwest Territories' barge season has so far been more confusing and frustrating than some residents expected. Last year, no barges were able to sail into the Sahtu region because of low water levels. This summer, two tows carrying multiple barges each are scheduled to travel down the Mackenzie River, making stops in Tulita and Norman Wells, as well as one in Fort Good Hope. But short lead times to get cargo on board, and higher prices than expected for certain loads, have made the vessels' eagerly-anticipated departures bittersweet for some Sahtu residents. People in the region were given just four days to get their cargo on the first tow, which left Hay River on July 6, and less than two weeks to make the second, which is currently set to sail on July 26. Marine Transportation Services (MTS) states online that the cutoff date for getting goods on the second tow was Wednesday, but MTS director Terry Camsell said Thursday that they're actually still accepting cargo, and will continue accepting it for as long as they can. "When we planned the first trip, we were unsure when the second trip was going to be, of course. So, I mean, you have to pick a date that you're comfortable with," said Camsell. "If in fact we were able to make the first trip faster, then the second trip, of course, would be sooner." If and when barges leave depends largely on water levels, and also on wildfires and other factors. Water levels on the Mackenzie River are still well below average, and it's very difficult to navigate in smoky conditions with little visibility, said Camsell. He also warned that if water levels drop too low, the second tow might not sail at all. If that happens, MTS plans to truck the cargo to Fort Simpson and ship it out from there on chartered barges. Knowledge of the cargo acceptance extension came too late for Joshua Earls, the owner of Ramparts, a grocery store in Norman Wells. "We were told the July 9th cutoff," he said, adding it would have helped to know that he had more lead time "because we rushed to get all our stuff there. It nearly killed me." Earls normally needs two weeks to organize a shipment of groceries, which made the first tow's tight deadline impossible to meet. When he learned a second sailing was scheduled with a cutoff date just over a week and a half out, he scrambled – begging with suppliers and pulling two all-nighters. "I thought it was almost impossible too, but yeah, people helped pull through and make this all happen," he said. Earls got his two trailers of groceries to Hay River on the morning of the stated cutoff date, but even then, he couldn't let out a sigh of relief. He said he was shocked to learn that MTS would charge him much more for his trailers than what he had paid in the past with another barging service. "When we got there and got our quote, we realized it was almost the same price as flying in our items, and we thought there was a mistake," he said. For Earls, shipping cargo down the Mackenzie is the economical way for him to restock his shelves. He believed using the N.W.T. government-operated vessel to get his goods to Norman Wells would help keep his costs down, and similarly the prices in his store. Now, he said, it seems that isn't going to be the case. Earls said he would have used Cooper Barging Service, but he wasn't certain the company would run barges this summer. Cooper Barging Service declined to comment. Camsell said Earls' situation is unique, as trailers are rarely used to transport cargo on the river, and that MTS hopes to "come up with a solution for that customer." Only the first tow heading down the Mackenzie River is set to sail all the way to Fort Good Hope. That set of barges contains fuel for Tulita, Norman Wells and Fort Good Hope, gasoline for the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, and about 400 tons of dry cargo, including goods bound for Sahtu Northern Stores, said Camsell. But other organizations in Fort Good Hope couldn't get their orders processed in time. "We couldn't commit to putting things on the ground without certainty that the barge would go, but the decision to get a barge going was so late that it wasn't feasible for us to make an order," said Arthur Tobac, the business manager with Ne'Rahten Development Ltd. in Fort Good Hope. Tobac would have wanted to ship up building supplies, like paint and insulation. He said using the barge brings down transportation costs. Chief Collin Pierrot in Fort Good Hope said the band office hauled up a lot of what it needed for community operations on the ice road last winter. "We didn't know if there was going to be a barge this year again, so we didn't take any chances," he said. Camsell said there will be a fuel barge that goes from Tuktoyaktuk to Fort Good Hope around July 20, and that people in Fort Good Hope who missed the first tow from Hay River can try to get their cargo on that ship.
CBC
12-06-2025
- Climate
- CBC
N.W.T gov't says barge season this year could still be a possibility, despite low water levels
The N.W.T. government says there's still a chance the summer barge season on the Mackenzie River could go ahead this year, but they're still waiting for the Canadian Coast Guard to give the green light. The latest Department of Environment and Climate Change report say water levels on the Mackenzie River and Great Slave Lake remain " well below average." "We're kind of in a marginal zone there, which would entail a possibility of putting the buoys in," said Terry Camsell, director of Marine Transportation Services, referring to water levels near Fort Providence, a key stretch for barge traffic. Camsell updated a committee of MLAs Wednesday on the plan for this year's barge season. He said the water system has recovered somewhat from the historic drought of the past few years, but it's still suffering from its after-effects. In the last two years, low water levels worsened by severe drought have forced multiple barge cancellations, which deliver essential supplies and fuel to communities not readily accessible during this time of the year. Camsell said last week that the coast guard sent a vessel to check water levels near Fort Providence, and they said it looked "OK." "So as long as that holds, and for several weeks, they'll be able to put the buoys in," Camsell said. Buoys are needed to guide marine vessels safely, especially through the rapids by Fort Providence — a critical area for vessels to pass through in order to get to the Sahtú. Camsell said that later this week the coast guard will survey another spot further downstream on the Mackenzie River near Beaver Lake. "So that gets us over the first hurdle and we'll be able to deliver to the Sahtú region if they can put the buoys in," Camsell said. If the barges are cancelled, Camsell said, they're nearly done formalizing a backup plan to use the N'Dulee ferry crossing near Wrigley as a base to ship supplies from. Though it still needs final authorization from the coast guard, Camsell said they "feel confident" to be able to enact that plan. Hay River or Tuktoyaktuk Camsell said Fort Good Hope should still get barge deliveries this summer. He said low water levels at the ramparts near Fort Good Hope make it very difficult for barges to traverse, so they're still not sure if barges will ship out of Hay River or Tuktoyaktuk. Camsell said the good news is that the coast guard has sent a vessel from Inuvik to check if they can place buoys. "They feel they can put the buoys into Fort Could Hope from the Delta. So we can supply Fort Good Hope even if the ramparts are closed off," Camsell said. If Hay River isn't an option, he said they'll send fuel and cargo from Tuktoyaktuk instead, and serve the Inuvialuit Settlement Region as well. 'We can't control Mother Nature' Infrastructure Minister Vince McKay said the backup plans should help deal with any of the uncertainties that come with working in the North. "We all know that we can't control Mother Nature, so we prepare those the best we can and wait to see how the season goes," McKay told MLAs Wednesday. Sahtú MLA Danny McNeely said in the briefing that he is glad to see the department exploring a contingency plan, but it's still subject to a third party — in this case, the coast guard. McNeely said a lot of goods were already trucked to the Sahtú communities on the winter road, but that's only a temporary solution.
CBC
15-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Backup plan for N.W.T. barge season underway, says gov't
The N.W.T. government plans to use the N'Dulee ferry crossing near Wrigley as a base to ship goods up the Mackenzie River to Sahtu communities, if barges can't make it up the river again this summer. "It's still up in the air," Terry Camsell, the director of Marine Transportation Services (MTS), said of the plan — which hinges on water levels. The barge season usually runs from June to October. Each year, barges deliver supplies and fuel to communities that otherwise aren't accessible at this time of the year. In the last two years, low water levels worsened by severe drought have forced multiple barge cancellations. Camsell said this season, he is hopeful, as water levels are about 30 centimetres higher than they were at this time last year. He said Marine Transportation Services is monitoring and working closely with the N.W.T. Department of Environment and Climate Change's hydrologists to determine whether barging will be viable this year. Camsell said the whole system depends on the Canadian Coast Guard, which places buoys on the river. That's critical for marine vessels to navigate safely. "If they can't do that because [of] low water, then we can't operate," Camsell said. Jeremy Hennessy, a spokesperson for the Canadian Coast Guard, said in an email that it is a little early to say if there will be any barge cancellations — with ice still on Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River, the coast guard has not yet begun installing buoys. "[The Canadian Coast Guard] will assess water levels once the ice is off the river and begin its spring buoy tending operations when it is safe to do so," Hennessy said. If the water levels are low, Hennessy said the coast guard will "adjust its operations as necessary to reflect the conditions of the river." What if barges can't operate? In normal conditions, Camsell said, goods are usually trucked from Enterprise to Hay River, since the railway service closed down. From there, they are loaded onto MTS barges and are shipped to communities along the Mackenzie River. Camsell said MTS and Canadian Coast Guard ships are stationed in Hay River. When water levels are low in Great Slave Lake, getting through the rapids around Fort Providence becomes a problem. In such conditions, they are unable to operate on the entire Mackenzie River. "So we physically can't get down the rapids to get to Fort Simpson and the N'Dulee ferry crossing," Camsell said. He said the backup plan — trucking cargo to the N'Dulee crossing instead — would mean they would use a charter company, Cooper Barging, to ship the goods via barge and tugboat from that crossing to some Sahtu communities. For that plan to work out, Camsell said, they would still need the coast guard's help setting up some buoys on that stretch of the river. "It's only a small stretch of the river, but we need about 30 buoys put in there," Camsell said. Camsell said he will be meeting with the coast guard this week to talk about the plan further, but nothing is finalized yet. "That would enable us to do a delivery to the Sahtu region ... We still have a lot of work to do and it's dependent on the coast guard co-operation for this," Camsell said. For communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Camsell said they will carry deliveries out of Tuktoyaktuk. Sahtu leaders aren't as optimistic Norman Wells Mayor Frank Pope said he hasn't heard anything from MTS about any plans yet. "[I] doubt we will have barge service," he said, though he added his community has enough supplies to last the season. Last fall, the town declared a local state of emergency as it grappled with increasing fuel costs in the wake of barge cancellations. To prepare for another summer of possible barge cancellations, a significant amount of fuel supplies, construction materials and a year's worth of groceries were trucked in by winter road to many Sahtu communities. Danny McNeely, MLA for the Sahtu, said he thinks recent water levels and reports from Environment and Climate Change mean chances of a barge season look bleak. "I don't think we're going to see a barging service this year," McNeely said. Tulı́t'a Mayor Douglas Yallee said they, too, have enough heating fuel and aircraft for now, but groceries could be a problem if barges don't arrive. "If need be, it'll have to be flown in and that's when the prices will go up," Yallee said. Yallee said it's getting harder to predict water levels each year. No long-term plans yet Looking ahead through that uncertainty Yallee described, Camsell said there is no long-term solution in place just yet if water levels keep being low. He said it's not unusual for water levels on the Mackenzie River to fluctuate, but if this trend continues, they'll have to look at other options. "We don't have [a solution] right now, but we're definitely looking at that if the need arises, for sure," Camsell said.
