The barge season to the N.W.T.’s Sahtu region is wrapping up. Here’s how it went

Marine Transportation Services responds to criticism over prices, lead times

This year’s long-awaited barge season for the N.W.T.’s remote Sahtu region will wrap up this week, to mixed reviews.

Marine Transportation Services barges are expected to make their last stop in the Sahtu on Thursday evening in Tulı́t’a. It will mark the end of the first barge season to the region since 2023. Last year, low water levels on the Mackenzie River prevented barges from travelling there at all.

Terry Camsell is the director of the Marine Transportation Services (MTS) division in the N.W.T. government. He said this year, Tulı́t’a, Norman Wells, and Fort Good Hope will each have received two barge tugs, which have delivered 8.9 million litres of fuel and 950 tonnes of cargo to the Sahtu — a haul they are “very pleased” with.

He said he is especially glad that they were able to fully resupply all three communities with fuel, which was their “main focus” this year.

“All the fuel that they required, we delivered to them,” he said.

But not everyone is happy with how the season went. Customers have complained about the high prices to ship cargo and the short notice of the barge season, which made it hard to plan shipments.

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 official cutoff for the second tow.

Tulı́t’a Mayor Douglas Yallee said the turnaround time for both shipments was too short for the local government in Tulı́t’a to bring in the supplies they would usually get on the barge.

Camsell said he understands this frustration, but the delay was caused by uncertainty as to whether water levels on the Mackenzie River would be high enough to allow ships to navigate, and, as such, was difficult to avoid.

“If we can’t transit the Mackenzie River then obviously we can’t do any deliveries.”

Camsell said his team is working with the coast guard to develop a procedure to send barges from Fort Simpson, N.W.T. as a contingency plan if low water levels persist. This would allow barges to bypass difficult-to-traverse rapids around Fort Providence, N.W.T. if need be. This could give customers more certainty, he said.

He added that he is confident MTS could have this procedure in place by next year.

Cargo rates too high, critics say

Yallee also said he would like to see MTS bring down the prices for cargo on barges to the Sahtu, a call echoed by Frank Pope, mayor of Norman Wells. Pope said he is grateful that the barges were able to bring fuel, but the prices for cargo aren’t affordable.

“I’m almost at the stage now of thinking, are we better off making a deal with Buffalo [airways] for a preferred rate that matches what the barges are charging,” he said, referring to an air service the company offered last year.

Joshua Earls is the owner of Ramparts grocery store in Norman Wells. He said that this year, he paid almost three times more to transport two trailers of groceries than he paid in the past with private barging service Cooper Barging Service.

“It’s not great,” he said.

Camsell said Earls likely paid more than most for his grocery order, because bringing trailers onto the barges costs more than shipping containers.

Norman Wells Mayor Pope said he plans to speak with Vince McKay, the N.W.T. minister responsible for MTS, about the need to reduce freight costs going into next year — and that Minister McKay is open to the discussion.

Camsell said reducing cargo rates for MTS shipments in the Sahtu would be a political decision, and it would likely require major changes to how MTS is funded.He said with current prices, the service is able to “more or less” break even each year. But if prices were lower, the barges would operate at a loss.

Camsell also stressed that barges are still much more affordable than air barging, with the rate coming to about 18 cents per pound of cargo, as opposed to 60 cents for air barging.

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