''Nunavik'' is an

icebreaking An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially naval architecture, designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo—such as Grain trade, grain, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement—in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrie ...

owned and operated by the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

shipping company

Fednav Fednav is a privately owned Canadian company in the maritime transport industry, involved in transporting over 30 million tonnes of bulk cargo and break bulk cargo worldwide. Its fleet comprises approximately 120 long-term and spot-chartered ves ...

. She is used to transport copper and nickel from the Nunavik Nickel Project, making 7–8 round trips per year. ''Nunavik'' is a

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

to the 2006-built ''

Umiak I ''Umiak I'' is a purpose-built ice-strengthened bulk carrier constructed for the Voisey's Bay Nickel Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vale, to transport ore from the Voisey's Bay Mine. According to an article in the April 2006 issue of '' ...

''. In April 2018, Fednav ordered a third similar vessel, ''

Arvik I Owrang (, also Romanized as Avarang and Avrang; also known as Arvik) is a village in Azghan Rural District, in the Central District (Ahar County), Central District of Ahar County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population w ...

'', which was delivered in April 2021.

Construction

In October 2012, Fednav announced that it had signed a contract with Japan Marine United Corporation for the construction of a new ice-strengthened bulk carrier at the Tsu shipyard in Tsu,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

.Canadian Firm Has World's Largest Fleet of Ice-class Vessels – New Order Placed For Polar-Class 4 Bulk Carrier
. Ottawa Citizen Blogs, 12 November 2012. Previously, the company already operated two similar vessels with independent icebreaking capability: 1978-built ''

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

'' and 2006-built ''Umiak I''. The keel of the new vessel was launched at the Japanese shipyard on 19 July 2013 and she was launched only two months later on 29 September. Initially set for delivery in December 2013, the new vessel, ''Nunavik'', was completed on 30 January 2014. She is named after

Nunavik Nunavik (; ; ) is an area in Canada which comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, part of the Nord-du-Québec region and nearly coterminous with Kativik. Covering a land area of north of the 55th parallel, it is the homelan ...

, the area compromising the northern third of the province of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. Several commenters have noted that while it took only couple of years to build ''Nunavik'' in Japan, the design and construction of the new polar icebreakers and for the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; ) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in Canadian waters, such as navigation aids and i ...

on a Canadian shipyards will eventually take more than a decade.

Operational career

In 2014, ''Nunavik'' became the first cargo ship to make an unescorted voyage through the

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic ...

. The vessel left Deception Bay, Canada, on 19 September and passed

Point Barrow Point Barrow or Nuvuk is a headland on the Arctic coast in the U.S. state of Alaska, northeast of Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow). It is the northernmost point of all the territory of the United States, at , south of the North Pole. (The northe ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, on 30 September. After clearing the

Bering Strait The Bering Strait ( , ; ) is a strait between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. The present Russia–United States maritime boundary is at 168° 58' ...

, the vessel headed to Bayuquan, China, with a cargo of nickel ore. According to Fednav, the voyage reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 1,300 tonnes when compared to a similar voyage through the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

. The Northwest Passage route is forty percent shorter than the Panama Canal route. In 2017, Baffinland, the operators of a massive new open-pit iron-ore mine, in northern

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada, the second-largest island in the Americas (behind Greenland), and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is (slightly smal ...

, planned to charter the ''Nunavik'' to carry supplies, through mid-winter ice, to its port in

Milne Inlet Milne Inlet () is a small, shallow arm of Eclipse Sound which, along with Navy Board Inlet, separates Bylot Island from Baffin Island in Nunavut's Qikiqtaaluk Region. Milne Inlet flows in a southerly direction from Navy Board Inlet at the c ...

. This mid-winter shipment would have included additional massive 200 tonne dump trucks, so they could be ready for the beginning of operations, in the spring. However, in February 2017, the Nunavut Impact Review Board declined to approve the shipment, due to the impact of the voyage on

sea mammals Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine enviro ...

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

rely on for food, and because it would interfere with local people traveling across the ice. In 2018, ''Nunavik'' was chartered by Ironbark Zinc for a test voyage to prove the shipping route feasible for its Citronen project in Northern

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

.Ironbark ticks off Nunavik shipping route
Business News, 30 August 2018.

Design

''Nunavik'' is long and has a beam of . Fully laden, she draws of water and has a

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water Fresh water or ...

of 27.997 tons. She is strengthened for navigation in ice according to the

International Association of Classification Societies The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) is a technically based non-governmental organization that currently consists of twelve member marine classification societies. More than 90% of the world's cargo-carrying ships’ ...

(IACS) Polar Class 4, which allows year-round operation in thick first-year ice which may include old ice inclusions. Furthermore, she fulfills the requirements for

ice class Ice class refers to a notation assigned by a classification society or a national authority to denote the additional level of strengthening as well as other arrangements that enable a ship to navigate through sea ice. Some ice classes also have ...

ICE-15 by

Det Norske Veritas Det Norske Veritas (DNV), formerly DNV GL, is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. DNV provides services for several industries, including maritime, oil and gas, renewable energy, e ...

. A

handysize Handysize is a naval architecture term for smaller bulk carriers or oil tanker with deadweight of up to 50,000 tonnes, although there is no official definition in terms of exact tonnages. Handysize is also sometimes used to refer to the span of ...

bulk carrier designed to carry nickel concentrate, ''Nunavik'' has five holds with a combined grain capacity of 30,221 cubic metres. She is geared with three electro-hydraulic cranes, two with a lifting capacity of 30 tons and one capable of lifting 50 tons. On the return voyage, the vessel will transport equipment and fuel to the mine. ''Nunavik'' is also the first Canadian-owned vessel to be fitted with a ballast water treatment system. The icebreaking bulk carrier is powered by a single seven-cylinder

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

7S70ME-C low-speed two-stroke

crosshead In mechanical engineering, a crosshead is a mechanical joint used as part of the slider-crank linkages of long stroke reciprocating engines (either internal combustion or steam) and reciprocating compressors to eliminate sideways force on the ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

which produces . In order to reduce the environmental impact, the main engine fulfills the

International Maritime Organization The International Maritime Organization (IMO; ; ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating maritime transport. The IMO was established following agreement at a ...

(IMO) Tier II requirements for nitrogen oxide emissions.Fednav brings new icebreaker to the Canadian Arctic
CNW, 20 March 2014. The main is coupled directly to a ducted controllable-pitch propeller manufactured by

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

. At full power, ''Nunavik'' is able to maintain a continuous speed of in ice. In open water, she only needs about one third of the power to reach a service speed of .Nunavik
Fednav. For onboard power generation, ''Nunavik'' has three MAN 6L23/30H diesel generating sets.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite news , url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/baffinland-withdraws-winter-sealift-proposal-1.3989358 , title = Baffinland drops winter sealift proposal, cites 'community concerns' , publisher =

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

, date = 2017-02-17 , accessdate = 2017-04-19 , quote = The company sought approval from the Nunavut Impact Review Board earlier this month to send the MV Nunavik to Milne Inlet. It said it needed to transport extra trucks and trailers to the mine in spring in order to meet its shipping targets this summer. {{cite news , url = http://www.mmdonline.com/sustainability/fednav-ship-attemtping-northwest-passage-cargo-run-136483/ , title = Fednav ship attempting Northwest Passage cargo run , publisher = MM&D , date = 2014-09-22 , accessdate = 2015-12-11 , quote = The Nunavik is the most powerful conventional (non-nuclear) icebreaking bulk carrier in the world, and sails from Deception Bay, Northern Quebec year round, transporting product from the Canadian Royalties mine. {{cite news , url = http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674mv_nunavik_from_northern_quebec_to_china_via_the_northwest_passage/ , title = MV Nunavik: from Quebec to China via the Northwest Passage , publisher = Nunatsiaq Online , date = 2014-09-22 , accessdate = 2015-12-11 , quote = The MV Nunavik, a vessel touted by its owners as one of the most powerful ice-breaking bulk carriers in the world, set out Sept. 19 on a voyage from Deception Bay, Quebec to northeastern China — through the Northwest Passage. {{cite book , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ItFgCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Nordic+Oshima%22+OR+%22Nordic+Orion%22+OR+%22Nordic+Olympic%22+OR+%22Nordic+Odin%22+OR+%22Nordic+Bulk+carriers%22++OR+%22Nordic+Bulk+carrier%22&pg=PT365 , title = Climate Change and Adaptation Planning for Ports , publisher =

Routledge Publishing Routledge ( ) is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, year = 2015 , author1=Adolf K. Y. Ng , author2=Austin Becker , author3=Stephen Cahoon , author4=Shu-Ling Chen , author5=Paul Earl , author6=Zaili Yang , isbn = 9781317631293 , access-date = 2015-12-11 , quote = 2013 ships Bulk carriers Ships built by Japan Marine United Ships of the Marshall Islands Merchant ships of Canada