Marine Transportation Services
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Marine Transportation Services (MTS) formerly Northern Transportation Company Limited (NTCL) is a
marine transportation Maritime transport (or ocean transport) or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by watercraft has been widely used throughout recorded history, as it pro ...
company operating primarily in the
Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uËkpÉ‘k literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...
watershed of the
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...
and northern
Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
, and the
Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...
using a fleet of diesel tug boats and shallow-draft barges. NTCL filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and its assets were acquired by the
Government of the Northwest Territories The Government of the Northwest Territories () is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian territory of the Northwest Territories. In modern Canadian use, the term ''Government of the Northwest Territories'' refers specifical ...
later that year.


History

The company was an outgrowth of the competition in the Northwest Territories and
Northern Alberta Northern Alberta is a geographic region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. An informally defined cultural region, the boundaries of Northern Alberta are not fixed. Under some schemes, the region encompasses everything north of the ce ...
between the new Northern Traders Company and the entrenched
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
.Ray, Arthur J. (1990) ''The Canadian Fur Trade in the Industrial Age'' University of Toronto Press, Toronto, p. 104, Colonel James Cornwall, one of the principals of the Northern Traders Company, ran his first steamer, a stern wheeler '' The Midnight Sun'', on the Lesser Slave River in 1904. The company acted as a kind of subsidiary of the Northern Trading Company until its formal creation in 1930 as Northern Waterways Limited, but its name was changed in 1934 to the Northern Transportation Company Limited.McCalla, Robert J. (1994) ''Water Transportation in Canada'' Formac Publishing Company, Halifax, p. 207-210, In the summer of 1934, the company's first season, it operated with small tugboats and power barges. From
Waterways A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is necessary betw ...
to
Fort Fitzgerald Fitzgerald, also known as Fort Fitzgerald and originally Smith's Landing, is an unincorporated community in northern Alberta, Canada within the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, located south of the Northwest Territories border, and south ...
on the Athabasca/
Slave River The Slave River is a Canadian river that flows from the confluence of the and Peace River in northeastern Alberta and runs into Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories. The river's name is thought to derive from the name for the Slavey g ...
, it used the motor tugboat ''Mabel'' with three barges; from Fort Smith to
Aklavik Aklavik (Inuvialuktun: ''Akłarvik'') (from the Inuvialuktun meaning '' barrenground grizzly place'') is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Until 1961, with a population over 1,500, the community served ...
on the Slave/
Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uËkpÉ‘k literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...
s, it used a 90-foot twin diesel powered barge with two barges carrying 300-tons per trip; from Fort Smith to Fort Rae (now Behchokǫ̀) on the north end of
Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada (after Great Bear Lake), List of lakes by depth, the deepest lake in North America at , and the List of lakes by area, tenth-largest lake in the world by area. It ...
it used a power barge with 100-ton capacity. On the Bear River route into
Great Bear Lake Great Bear Lake (; ) in the boreal forest of Canada is the largest List of lakes of Canada, lake entirely in Canada (Lake Superior and Lake Huron are larger but straddle the Canada–United States border, Canada–US border), the fourth-larges ...
, where significant silver and uranium mineral exploration was underway in 1934, the company used a series of boats and barges. The tugboat ''Norman'' operated from Fort Norman (now Tulita) to the head of the first rapids with a 50-ton barge. Freight was then transferred around the rapid
portage Portage or portaging ( CA: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a '' ...
to the vessel ''Sternwheeler'' with 20-ton capacity, operating up the Bear River to the next set of rapids. After that portage, freight was transferred to a tugboat pushing a 50-ton barge to Fort Franklin (now Délı̨nę) on Great Bear Lake. Finally, freight was transferred onto a 90-foot power barge suitable for lake traffic pushing two 90-foot barges with carrying capacity of 350-tons, destined for
Port Radium Port Radium is a mining area on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. It included the settlement of Cameron Bay as well as the Eldorado (also called Port Radium) and Echo Bay mines. The name Port Radium did no ...
and Cameron Bay mining camps. In 1936, NTCL was taken over by the Eldorado Gold Mines Limited and Arthur Berry was appointed manager in
Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
. In 1944, it became a
Crown corporation Crown corporation () is the term used in Canada for organizations that are structured like private companies, but are directly and wholly owned by the government. Crown corporations have a long-standing presence in the country, and have a sign ...
when its parent, then known as Eldorado Mining and Refining, was
nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...
by the
Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...
. NTCL's water freighting activities in the early years were focused on the Athabasca/Slave/Mackenzie River systems as a means to supply the Northwest Territories and northern Alberta with freight. Mineral development, commercial sawmills, wartime strategic projects (such as the Canol pipeline in 1942), and the growth of settlements in these districts lead to a growth in demand for NTCL's services. Its flagships were the '' Radium Queen'' and '' Radium King'' both commissioned in 1937 for use on the upper and lower Slave Rivers. Other vessels in this fleet included the '' Radium Express'', '' Radium Yellowknife'', '' Radium Prince'', '' Radium Cruiser'', '' Radium Scout'', '' Radium Charles'', '' Radium Gilbert'' and '' Radium Lad'', earning the fleet the name ''"The Radium Line"''. Port Radium on Great Bear Lake, a mine that supplied much of the
uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...
used by the
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...
, and later the
uranium mines Uranium production is carried out in about 13 countries around the world, in 2017 producing a cumulative total of 59,462 tonnes of uranium (tU). The international producers were Kazakhstan (39%), Canada (22%), Australia (10%), Namibia (7.1%), Ni ...
on
Lake Athabasca Lake Athabasca ( ; French: ''lac Athabasca''; from Woods Cree: , " herethere are plants one after another") is in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake is ...
in northern
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
, were key destinations for the fleet. All of the tugs had extremely shallow draft, and mounted their propellers in cavities under their hull. Five vessels in the fleet, the ''George Askew'', the ''Watson Lake'', ''Horn River'', '' Sandy Jane'' and ''Great Bear'', did not include "Radium" in their name. Construction of Distant Early Warning communication sites along the
Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...
coastline in the 1950s provided an opportunity for the company to expand and engineer larger and more efficient tugboats and barges. In 1975, then under the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard Northern Division of
Transport Canada Transport Canada () is the Ministry (government department), department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, Policy, policies and Public services, services of road, rail, marine and air Transport in Canada, tra ...
, it became the sole marine shipper in the
Canadian Arctic Northern Canada (), colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada, variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories a ...
operating of out of Churchill,
Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...
. In 1959, it moved its operational headquarters from Fort Smith on the Slave River, to the town of Hay River. In 1965 NTCL purchased Yellowknife Transportation Company and Arctic Transportation to become sole commercial marine freighter in the Northwest Territories and Arctic Ocean. In 1985, NTCL was purchased by the Inuvialuit Development Corporation and Nunasi Corporation, two
native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...
-owned corporations.The NorTerra Group of Companies
, corporate website
On April 1, 2014, the Inuvialuit Development Corporation (IDC) bought the 50% share of NorTerra held by Nunasi. This purchase of NorTerra gave the IDC complete control of
Canadian North Bradley Air Services, operating as Canadian North, is a wholly Inuit-owned airline headquartered in Kanata, Ontario, Canada. It operates scheduled passenger services to communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Nunavik region ...
, NTCL and other companies that were jointly held. NTCL filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and its assets were acquired by the Government of the Northwest Territories later that year in order to ensure that the essential fuel transportation service continued for residents of the Northwest Territories.


References


External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Northern Transportation Company Limited
homepage of Northern Transportation Company Limited


from Inuit Business Directory

NWT Historical Timeline, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre History of transport in Canada Former Crown corporations of Canada Inuvialuit companies Shipping companies of Canada Water transport in the Northwest Territories Water transportation in Alaska Transport in Tuktoyaktuk