Operation plan coming for Iqaluit deep-sea port, but not opening this season, says minister

The Nunavut government will have an operation plan in place for Iqaluit's long-awaited deep-sea port in the next few months.

That's according to Economic Development and Transportation Minister David Akeeagok.

Despite the project's construction expected to be done by late August, Akeeagok told the Legislature earlier this month that there had not been a decision yet on who will run the port or how.

He told CBC News recently that a consultant firm  — Advisian Worley Group — has been hired to come up with that management plan and that work is still underway. 

"It's taking a while to get that portion done," he said. 

He's expecting a report from the consultant "any time," which the territory will have to look over and accept before it's set in stone, but he said the report likely won't be public until August or September. The report will also cover safety, equipment and rules on docking fees, he said.

Akeeagok expects personnel training for port workers to happen over the coming winter.

The project, estimated to be about $85 million and to include a small craft harbour, had previously been anticipated to be complete in 2020, and operating by fall 2021. The city of Iqaluit first spearheaded the concept of the deep-sea port in 2005.

Back in 2016, then-assistant deputy minister for the Department of Economic Development and Transportation said the port would initially be owned and operated as a territorial government asset, but it floated the idea of a harbour authority to operate and manage it.

There have been renewed calls for the sea port over the years with the shipments containing annual resupply being often delayed by ice and weather. In one instance, in 2015 a shipment made it to Iqaluit shores with the help of an icebreaker, and was several weeks behind schedule. In 2019, reports of large chunks of sea ice floating in Frobisher Bay held up the transport of construction materials into Iqaluit and causing delays to the port project.

Without a port operation plan in place, and, Akeeagok said, because opening a seaport would be disruptive, the port won't open until at least next season.

"We made a decision that ... physically we can't have it open this season just because of the two sealift offices will need to be moved there and few other things that would need to be moved in order for it to be functional. And doing it halfway through a shipping season might be too disruptive."

Akeeagok said the main benefit to having the port will be to cut down the time it takes for ships to unload. This will allow the ship to get to their next destinations sooner too, he added.

It's not clear whether the new port will cut costs for Nunavut consumers, he said.