Nunavut start up works the docks

ARVIAT, NUNAVUT: A newly formed company called Nunavut Connections is providing the stevedoring services at the Port of Churchill, loading vessels and coordinating the movement of fuel and freight from the port to destinations in Nunavut.

Nunavut Connections is a majority Inuit company with shareholders from the Kivalliq and Baffin regions, will pursue new business opportunities in Nunavut. The start up has also partnered with OmniTRAX Canada. The start-up phase of the business will employ 12 people and Nunavut Connections is pursuing other supply chain opportunities throughout the territory.

“We have assembled a great team of business people and are extremely excited about the employment and economic potential of our business plans with OmniTRAX Canada,” said Elizabeth Copland, Nunavut Connections’ president and chairperson.

A vessel at the Port of Churchill—loaded by employees of Nunavut Connections—moved north on July 28 with 3,000 tons of general cargo destined for communities in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region. OmniTRAX Canada operations include the Port of Churchill, the Churchill Marine Tank Farm, the Hudson Bay Railway, the Saskatchewan-based Carlton Trail Railway and the Kettle Falls International Railway connecting British Columbia to the United States.

“Nunavut Connections shows OmniTRAX Canada’s commitment to Nunavut,” said Brad Chase, president of OmniTRAX Canada. “We are pursuing new business opportunities at the Port of Churchill and economic development in the North that support Canada’s Northern Strategy.”