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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Negotiating the ice pack and the Arctic weather to deliver cargo Northern Transportation’s fleet of shallow draft tugs and barges provides a unique delivery service
along the Arctic coast from Point Hope eastwards Alan Bailey PNA Contributing Writer
Moving supplies and equipment by ship to the communities and industrial complexes along Alaska’s north coast must count as one of the world’s most unusual and demanding transportation challenges. Negotiating the brief ice-free season and the changeable Arctic climate requires extensive experience, business flexibility and careful planning.
Northern Transportation Co. Ltd. has provided marine services along the western Arctic coast since 1957.
“After 40 years we have a few people who know what they’re doing,” Lynette Storoz, director of marketing and traffic for Northern Transportation, told PNA. “We work very hard to make sure (the cargo) gets where it’s going.”
Founded in 1934 The company, which is wholly Native owned, first started transporting cargo in the Mackenzie River watershed in 1934.
Over the years the company expanded its operations westward into Alaska and eastward along the Arctic coast of Canada. From the company’s headquarters and main base in Hay River, Northwest Territories, barges now deliver fuel and other supplies to locations as far apart as Barrow in Alaska and the Baffin Island region of Canada. A Northwest Transportation subsidiary also provides cargo management services in northeastern Canada.
The company has been involved in oil development on the North Slope right from the earliest exploration drilling.
“We were the first to actually land a drill rig by barge at the Colville River delta in 1963,” Storoz said. “Over the years we’ve shipped a considerable amount of cargo, particularly during the development phases of the North Slope.” Extended season Storoz explained that the company’s use of shallow draft barges and tugs extends the delivery season along Alaska’s Arctic coast by several weeks — Northern Transportation can normally deliver to the North Slope from around the last week of July to the middle of September.
This extended season gives the company a major advantage over operators moving deeper draft vessels up the west coast of Alaska.
“Our tugs and barges do not physically draw more than six feet of water when fully loaded,” Storoz said. “What that does is give us the ability to sneak into Alaska earlier.” When the ice pack starts to recede, the shallow draft vessels are able to slip between the land and the ice. The offshore ice barrier keeps the open water almost as smooth as glass, Storoz said.
The proximity of the North Slope to Northern Transportation’s terminal facilities also enables the company to make maximum use of the open water season. The company operates a major transshipment terminal at Tuktoyaktuk on Mackenzie Bay, just 430 miles from Prudhoe Bay.
“It’s only a two to three day trek from Tuktoyaktuk to Prudhoe Bay,” Storoz said. “We have equipment staged at Tuk, so once the cargo comes from Hay River to Tuk there’s a fleet of vessels available to do the delivery.”
In fact, people find the whole supply route through Canada very convenient for shipping cargo to the North Slope. Cargo can go by road and rail from anywhere in North America to Northern Transportation’s main terminal at Hay River — Hay River sits at the northern railhead of the Canadian railroad system. From Hay River barges transfer the cargo down the Mackenzie River to Tuktoyaktuk.
Oil industry projects Northern Transportation’s Canadian supply route has proven particularly valuable for drilling rig construction.
“We’ve had tremendous success in shipping the modular rigs that are built in Canada,” Storoz said.
For example, Doyon contracted Northern Transportation to ship one of its drilling rigs from Canada. Following construction in Alberta, the rig modules were broken down and trucked to Hay River. After re-assembly of the modules in Northern Transportation’s yard, barges carried the rig to the North Slope.
The shipment of the production modules for the Badami field again proved the value of the company’s supply route. Following partial construction of the field production facilities in Calgary, trucks conveyed the modules in 150 ton pieces to Hay River during the winter.
Construction workers spent six months completing and testing the modules in Hay River, so that Northern Transportation could barge everything up to the North Slope right at the beginning of the summer open-water season.
“The project was under budget — it was actually one of the earliest deliveries we ever made to the North Slope and it went without a hitch,” Storoz said. “I think we had about 120 people at one point that helped pull it off. They did a tremendous job.” Village communities Alongside its support for the oil industry, Northern Transportation supplies the Arctic coastal villages and towns with everything from construction materials to fuel. The Arctic communities have come to rely on the company’s services.
“We’ve (carried) water and sewage projects, drilling materials, we have supplied fuel to the North Slope communities,” Storoz said.
In one of its more intriguing assignments, Northern Transportation shipped a school to Barrow, Storoz said.
And Northern Transportation is particularly sensitive to the needs of the Native communities — the company’s relatively long delivery season provides time to avoid clashes with village activities such as whaling. Gearing up for projects Maintaining the regular delivery services along the Arctic coast when gearing up for oil industry construction projects can prove quite a challenge. The large scale of the construction projects usually requires major build ups of people and equipment for the brief summer delivery window.
The lead time and cost involved in obtaining equipment and trained people, coupled with uncertainty about the timing and size of the projects, inevitably leads to some level of business risk — Northern Transportation may have to start acquiring resources well before a project begins.
“You don’t just pick up the phone and say ‘deliver four tugs and 12 barges, and by the way we need them in July of next year’,” Storoz said. “Ultimately we have to find the equipment to move (the customer’s) cargo.”
However, with only four summer months available for delivering cargo, the company can focus on long-term planning and marketing during the winter. Winter also provides an opportunity to maintain the fleet and develop the port and terminal facilities.
“All of our vessels come back to Hay River (for the winter),” Storoz said. “We have a fully-functional shipyard ... our maintenance crews are extraordinarily busy making sure that the hulls are in shape, all the shafts are clean and that the engines are overhauled.”
Positioned for the future With Northern Transportation’s long history of supporting construction on the North Slope, Storoz sees great potential for future business from gas development.
“Certainly the gas is just a tremendous opportunity, not just from the transportation perspective, but from the overall logistics planning and cargo management that’s involved,” Storoz said. “We’re one of the companies positioned to be involved in that.”
And the company’s unique and extensive experience along the Arctic coast will continue to ensure reliable cargo delivery in a very challenging environment.
“The challenge every year is the weather ... it is a very harsh environment,” Storoz said. “You have to be prepared to be flexible ... that ability to adapt with so many customer needs is something that we feel we do very well ... (our customers) rely on us to deliver.”
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