PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: NTCL: Shipper has unlimited flexibility

NTCL’s fleet – eleven mainline tugs and 90-plus barges of different sizes – hauls freight over territory stretching thousands of miles

Paula Easley

Q. Where is Northern Transportation based?

A. It is based in Hay River, Northwest Territories, Canada. The company owns and operates the largest inland shipyard in Canada, and has Northern Canada’s largest tug and barge operation. Operations are in Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk, Norman Wells, Cambridge Bay, Iqaluit and Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the company operates two Arctic Class II icebreaker support vessels. The Anchorage office is staffed by the company’s agent, Laurie Gray.

Q. When was the company founded and by whom?

A. Northern Transportation was founded in 1934 at Waterways, Alberta, on the Athabasca River, which gave it water access to Canada’s extensive northern river system and ultimately the northern coast. Before World War II, it was purchased by Eldorado Mining, a federal government-owned company involved in mining uranium. It remained under government ownership until Norterra purchased it in 1985.

Q. Describe Northern Transportation’s ownership and senior management team.

A. Norterra is a holding company owned equally by the Inuvialuit Development Co. and Nunasi Corp., representing the Inuit of Nunavut. Northern Transportation is a 100 percent northern and aboriginal-owned company. This year, 2005, marks the 20th year of aboriginal ownership.

David Foster, a naval engineer and naval architect who also holds an MBA, is president. Foster was vice president, operations before assuming his current position in December 2004. John Marshall is senior director of operations and has been with the company 24 years. Kirk Vander Ploeg is director of marine operations and traffic. He has been with Northern Transportation for 25-plus years. Altogether there are 10 members, and several have more than 20 years’ experience with Northern Transportation.

Q. What are the company’s main business, primary customers and types of services?

A. The company’s main business is moving dry cargo and fuel to re-supply northern communities along the Mackenzie River and Arctic coast as far east as Taloyoak in Nunavut and as far west as Point Barrow in Alaska. Fuel is shipped inside the barges and freight is shipped on deck.

Primary customers are the Government of the Northwest Territories, which oversees fuel supplies to communities; construction companies which ship supplies for projects during the summer for winter construction; the northern mining industry which needs freight for construction projects, camps and mine re-supply; the oil and gas industry, which needs supplies and equipment for exploration projects; individuals in communities who order a year’s worth of household goods and food staples, vehicles, pre-fabricated homes — anything that fits on the company’s largest barges, 200 feet long by 70 feet wide.

In 1963, Northern Transportation transported the first drilling rig to Prudhoe Bay. In 1998, it moved a rig, related modules and supplies for the Badami project. In 2001, Northern Transportation transported a specially built, Arctic-class drill rig to the Mackenzie Delta for petroleum exploration and production partners Petro-Canada and Devon Canada.

This summer, Northern Transportation moved three drilling rigs for Akita Equtak Drilling, a joint venture company owned by the Inuvialuit Development Co., based in Inuvik and Calgary-based Akita Drilling.

Q. How many employees does Northern Transportation have?

A. Northern Transportation has more than 230 employees, about half of whom work five months during the intensely busy shipping season. Most are based in Hay River, but a handful is stationed at each location the company operates.

Q. Describe your marine and other equipment.

A. Northern Transportation operates a fleet of 11 mainline tugs and more than 90 barges of different sizes and capacities. For the amount of freight and fuel the company hauls, this size fleet affords the capability and flexibility to haul freight over a territory stretching thousands of miles.

Northern Transportation owns two 24-person camp barges available for lease to exploration projects close to shore. In Halifax, The company operates two Canadian-flagged Arctic Class II supply ships, capable of anchor handling and towing in Arctic and international waters.

Northern Transportation can operate the fleet only in summer, starting in mid-June to the more southerly communities and to the northern coastal communities between mid-July and mid-September. The shipping season usually ends in mid-October, depending on when freeze-up begins.

“We cram a year’s worth of work into those five months,” says Kirk Vander Ploeg, director of marine operations and traffic. “Communities along the north coast have no other way to receive freight except by very expensive airlift. Because of the short northern shipping season, NTCL can get to some of the communities only once, so it’s crucial that NTCL re-supplies the communities every year. We always deliver.”

Q. Is the company expanding any of its operations and/or locations?

A. Northern Transportation is always looking to expand and improve on its business. On Canada’s east coast, working out of Halifax, there are many opportunities for the Arctic Class II supply ships servicing the needs of the offshore oil and gas exploration industry.

The company would like to expand operations to include more freight hauling to Alaska for companies wishing to take advantage of moving freight by rail to Hay River, the terminus of the northern Canadian rail line. From there, Northern Transportation can move the freight by tug and barge down the Mackenzie River to the Mackenzie Delta and then west across the Beaufort Sea to Alaska’s North Slope.

In 2006, the company is hoping to begin to deliver freight and fuel into Nunavut communities. Northern Transportation first began shipping to the east in 1988 and based its eastern shipping operations in Montreal. We hope to re-establish the routes and business next year.

Q. What is the company’s main strength as a marine transporter?

A. Northern Transportation’s 70 years of northern experience, and its size as Canada’s largest northern tug and barge operator, give the company a definite competitive edge. Northern Transportation repairs and maintains its own fleet of tugs and barges; it has a staff of fully qualified mechanics, electricians and high-pressure welders.

The shipyard has a Syncrolift facility for taking tugs and barges out of the water for winter storage or repairs. Once lifted from the water, vessels can be moved to the maintenance facility or dry dock location using the shipyard rail transfer system. The marine maintenance facility consists of two 100-foot by 300-foot bays, each equipped with two 20-ton overhead cranes.

Northern Transportation also offers repair and maintenance services to other marine operators, including the Canadian Coast Guard.

Q. What new markets, clients and/or projects did the company attract in the last year?

A. In 2005, Northern Transportation sourced a supply of Arctic grade fuel from a West Coast refinery, and through a joint venture with a Canadian barge operator based in Victoria, British Columbia, was able to move the fuel north to Point Barrow and then east to the Mackenzie Delta where is was offloaded into Northern Transportation barges for distribution to regular clients. This was a new way to bring fuel into the Arctic and was more efficient and cost-effective than using rail cars that are offloaded at Hay River. The company hopes to expand this service in 2006.

Q. What is the most challenging job the company has undertaken?

A. The Badami project in 1998 utilized the company’s welding and assembly capability as well as its marine expertise. Modules for the Badami facility were shipped in pieces to Hay River where they were assembled in Northern Transportation’s maintenance shop and yard and then loaded on to barges for the trip north to Alaska.

The challenge is always there to deliver, sometimes under very difficult weather conditions, but Northern Transportation has always met that challenge. Any new route or special project Northern Transportation undertakes must not interfere with the annual community re-supply, the lifeblood for northern coastal communities that cannot be reached by road or rail.

Q. What do you see as future trends or opportunities from events such as long-term weather fluctuations?

A. If warmer weather reduced the amount and duration if ice in the Beaufort Sea and along the Arctic coast, Northern Transportation could extend its shipping season to longer than the current five months. That would give everyone involved with this immense effort every year time to have a nap.

Company President Dave Foster sees opportunity for growth with or without changes in the northern climate. “NTCL has a long history of solid performance in the North,” says Foster. “We’ve delivered freight and fuel to northern communities and companies for more than 70 years. We know our business well, and we will continue to improve upon our services to customers as well as work to expand the company’s business horizons.”