Pack-ice defeats cargo delivery in Kugaaruk, Nunavut

People in Kugaaruk, Nunavut, are worried they could face rising food prices this winter after the Coast Guard failed for the first time to deliver about a quarter of the sealift cargo destined for the hamlet.

Kugaaruk, pop. 839, is the only community in Nunavut to receive its annualsealiftresupply by the Coast Guard.

With no dock, large cargo vessels cannot unload goods in the community. Instead, privatesealiftcompanies drop off supplies at the port at the former mine-site ofNanisivikon the northern tip of Baffin Island. From there, the Coast Guard picks them up and carries them down toPellyBay.

This year, 77 shipping containers made the journey on board the CCGS DesGroseilliers and the CCGS Terry Fox. Most of the goods were delivered. Then in late September, bad weather blew multi-year sea ice into Kugaaruks harbour, making it impossible for the CCGS Des Groseilliers to finish delivering the supplies.

Crews used a helicopter to fly in some of the goods, but on Oct. 1, the Coast Guard vessel had to leave due to severe ice conditions, taking along with it 29 containers of cargo destined for the KoomiutCo-op, as well as a container of equipment and a garbage truck for the hamlet.

"Once we found out that the goods were going back then we were just scrambling to find out where the goods were going, says Gordon Dinney, the hamlets senior administrative officer.

The Nunavut government says the Coast Guard needed to find a port to offload the goods. They chose Churchill, Man., some 1,100 kilometres to the south.

This is the first time the Coast Guard failed to deliver goods to the remote community.

Now Dinney says his main concern is making sure the Coast Guard will be to deliver all the supplies next year.

"It's an easy fix. It's just a matter of having the ships in here during August rather than the end of September and the first of October. That's the fix. It's not rocket science."

Too early to tell if food prices will be affected

Duane Wilson, vice president of merchandising and logistics for Arctic Cooperatives Ltd., says its too early to tell whether prices at the communitys co-op store will be higher this winter.

He says the company is already in talks with its insurer to see whether the costs to fly in goods can be mitigated.

Among the cargo was snow clearing equipment and materials for the hamlets vehicles.

The Nunavut government has agreed to pay to fly up the hamlets shipping container and materials to fix the broken garbage truck, so it can be used until the new garbage truck can be delivered by sea next summer.

Mark McCulloch, the senior manager of procurement and logistics for the Government of Nunavut, says he cant say exactly how much flying those goods up will cost, but estimates it will be less than $30,000.

Dinney estimates that flying in the garbage truck would cost $100,000.