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Canada's Arctic Sovereignty – Iqaluit Deep Water Port – February
2006 Update: On 10 August 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the Canadian Forces would develop a new naval base at the existing deepwater port at Nanisivik, further north on Baffin Island. Perceived advantages include: a strategic location on the Northwest Passage, pre-exisiting dock and refuelling infrastructure, and a nearby airstrip. Downsides are a gravel runway – Iqaluit has the only paved runway in Nunavut – and the capital of Nunavut is left without a deep water port. Iqaluit and Stephen Harper’s Plans for the Protection of Arctic Sovereignty Among the highlights of the 2005-06 federal election was a surprise announcement by the Conservative Party that, if elected, that party would bolster Canada’s Arctic 
defence through the construction of three armed naval heavy
icebreakers to be based at a new deep-water port at Iqaluit, capital of Nunavut. Armed icebreakers
received the lion’s share of attention since they would be the most expensive aspect of
Tory plans to assure sovereignty in the Arctic – $2B including a new deep water port.The first question is: why does Iqaluit need a deep water port? The second is: how does the Canadian Forces – and the planned icebreakers – fit into this requirement? Iqaluit is located on Koojesse Inlet, close to the end of Frobisher Bay. [1] The inlet is relatively shallow with extensive mud flats appearing at low tide. Situated on the north side of the inlet, the City of Iqaluit currently has a small pier (above) but large vessels must often offload cargo and passengers onto smaller craft to get to shore. 
In some cases, cargo vessels simply ground themselves as the tide falls [2] and unload on the mudflats. A clever piece
of improvization but hardly what one might expect of the port of the capital city of a Canadian Territory. So, the
need for a deep water port is obvious but what should the nature of these facilities be ? The economic development
office of the City of Iqaluit delivered its plan in October 2005 – the planning process having begun
in 1980.The City of Iqaluit Plan for a Deepwater Port with another Wharf for Small Craft The Iqaluit plan is based on current uses and limitations encountered. Petroleum is brought to Iqaluit by tanker which has helped to determine the location of the deep water port. The existing pipeline originates on an island called Innuit Head (the pipe runs north to Iqaluit International Airport, then on to the City of Iqaluit itself ). The waters off Innuit Head drop off to the desired depth quite quickly (a draft of 10.5m is the deepest for vessels routinely visting Iqaluit, so 15m was seen as the minimum desirable depth). A single 77m-long berth was considered adequate for most users. 
Current maritime traffic to Iqaluit determined the size of the proposed port and its single concrete caisson berth.
[3] A new road would be built out to Innuit Head roughly following an oil pipeline. Road construction blasting
and dredging would provide material for a sorting area extending out over the mudflats. A causeway would give road
access directly to the single berth. Another pier leading to a small craft wharf would also be built closer to
Iqaluit. Consultants have estimated the construction (and other) costs for this project at about $49.5M (base capital,
dockside equipment, and the environmental assessment costs would total about $35.5M). These estimates have come
under attack recently. We’ll look at the numbers in more detail and try to assess their relevance to the
much larger port development planned by Stephen Harper’s new government.[1] The location of Iqaluit was determined by a US airstrip built during WWII (now YFB, Iqaluit’s airport). Large ship access to the site would not have been a priority. [2] More commonly, cargo which cannot be unloaded during the few hours of high tide per day must be transferred to barges or other small boats for the trip to shore. [3] According to a consultants report, measured over a 12-year period, cargo ships, tankers, and fishing boats make up the bulk of the larger ship traffic. The remaining 16% was made up of cruiseships, Canadian Coast Guard vessels – both icebreakers and other types – and a single Navy vessel (the MCDV HMCS Goose Bay in 2002). Next in this In Detail Survey – Costing the Deep Water Port Planned for Iqaluit |