https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/sea-ice-blocking-shipment-materials-frobisher-bay-1.5220842
[images in online article]
Sea ice blocking shipment of materials into Iqaluit
Ice chunks hindering movement of building materials, causing delays to
deep sea port construction
CBC News · Posted: Jul 23, 2019 3:00 AM CT
Large chunks of sea ice floating in Frobisher Bay are holding up the
transport of construction materials into Iqaluit.
Continuous south winds have pushed masses of ice into the bay, hindering
the movement of ships and the equipment and materials they contain. The
ice jam is also causing delays to construction of Iqaluit's deep sea port.
A dredging ship that's part of the port's construction was parked about
a week ago and its crew is still waiting for the ice to give way.
Louis-Philippe Perron, project manager for Tower Arctic Ltd., the
company building the port, said the ice is affecting dredging at the
site. Dredging is the removal of sediments and other material from the
bottom of a body of water.
"Initially it was only impacting our disposal site for the dredging of
the works, but now it's impacting the whole dredging works," said Perron.
"It's going to delay the dredging, which delays the construction of the
big cells that need to be constructed after the dredging is done."
Perron said if the ice holds them up, it will push back the completion
of the project by a couple weeks. The company aims to finish the project
by mid-September or early October 2020.
There is work that can be done while the dredging is stalled, said
Perron. The team has been crushing material at the small craft harbour
and plans to do more blasting.
"So we still have a lot of work to prepare and make material to be able
to build the port," he said.
'Very hard to manoeuvre around ice'
The dredging ship isn't the only craft affected by the ice.
A sealift carrying equipment and materials for the deep sea port, as
well as construction and resupply materials for work in Iqaluit, is also
trapped in the bay.
Jimmy Akavak, the director of marketing for Iqaluit-based NEAS, a marine
transportation, packaging and container company, said the size of the
barge makes it more difficult. He said the one trapped is about 100 feet
long and up to 50 feet wide.
"So it is very hard to manoeuvre around ice and that's the main problem
right now. Just no room for any big vessel to carry cargo," said Akavak.
The next sealift is set to arrive in Iqaluit on Friday, and another ship
is scheduled to come in a few days after that.
If the ice doesn't clear, those vessels will also have to wait.
Akavak said calling in the coast guard to clear a path with an
icebreaker would be a last resort.
Right now the company is hoping the winds change direction and push the
ice back out to sea.
Akavak said the company does not believe the ice will cause significant
delays to sealifts to other communities.
=====================================
To subscribe, unsubscribe, turn vacation mode on or off,
or carry out other user-actions for this list, visit
https://www.freelists.org/list/keiths-list
Note: new climate change website is now in pre-launch
Visit https://www.10n10.ca/e/index.shtml
