Winnipeg Free Press, ONLINE EDITION - Braden Burry Expediting, a northern logistics services company has launched a new
service to Kivalliq Region of Nunavut from the Port of Churchill that could further
enhance the potential for the northern port.
The new service will mean BBE will maintain staff in Churchill providing logistical
and stevedore services at the port.
It might also mean a more economical freight service for communities in the Kivalliq
region like Arviat, Rankin Inlet and Baker Lake.
Freight customers in the region will be able to obtain an all‐inclusive freight rate
from Winnipeg to the communities on the western shore of Hudson's Bay.
BBE, which is owned by NorTerra Inc., a division of corporate entities owned on
behalf of the Inuit from Nunavut and the Inuvialuit of the Western Arctic, already
has warehousing facilities in Winnipeg.
It would then truck the freight to Thompson or The Pas where the Hudson Bay
Railway would haul the freight to the Port of Churchill.
OmniTRAX Canada owns both the Hudson Bay Railway and the Port of Churchill.
BBE specializes in industrial logistics management in the north but Eitan Dehtiar,
BBE's vice‐president, finance, said with this new service BBE will look to expand
into community consumer freight as well.
"We hope to be able to improve the affordability when it comes to freight costs for
those communities in the Kivalliq region," Dehtiar said.
Right now many have to rely on annual shipments from Montreal. Dehtiar said the
project is hoped to develop the viability of the Churchill trade corridor.
BBE will be able to offer more frequent shipping opportunities through its sister
company Northern Transportation Company Limited. NTCL operates several tugs
and barges in northern Canada and already regularly ships out of Churchill.
Pat Avery, a vice‐president with OmniTRAX said, "This new service offers the
customers of the Port an expedited, cost‐effective way to move their freight. The
consumer will benefit from frequent service options and not have to rely on once‐aseason
deliveries from the East Coast."
BBE, which is headquartered out of Yellowknife, NWT, and operates freight
forwarding, cargo consolidation, procurement of transportation services and cargo
delivery services with facilities in Inuvik, Edmonton, Normal Wells, Calgary and Fort
Simpson.