It's all about cargo movement at its finest for Brian Tattuinee of Rankin Inlet, who has been with Nunavut Sealink and Supply Inc. (NSSI) for more than three years now as the company's business development manager.
Based out of Iqaluit, Tattuinee, 40, said his job is to establish and maintain solid relationships with the customer base in Nunavut, so that the company can move as much cargo as it can to customers across the territory.
He said the cargo is primarily shipped from the South Shore of Montreal, but there are are other points of loading for some of its clients.
“We ship pretty much everything that's too big or too heavy to fit in an airplane, or not able to fly at all,” said Tattuimee. “So, pretty well, if you name it, we likely move it. That includes everything from food to construction materials and heavy equipment and literally everything in-between.
“We're very efficient with the volumes we move and quite cost-effective too. The only downside is that we're very seasonal. When you think about it, Nunavut's open-water season isn't very long and that's the only window we have to move all the cargo that we've booked.
“So, we start sailing towards the middle to the end of June and we're usually done by the end of October, although we do go into November sometimes. It really depends how the season goes. It's a very fluid season and we're, pretty much, at the mercy of when ice starts to form in the communities.”
Tattuinee said ensuring you have space on the ship is the first step in placing an order, either doing the booking online or giving the company a call.
He said it's also important to understand your dimensions and weights.
“We then give you a booking number and if it's anything that needs to be packaged, we offer a packaging service, as well. It must be delivered to the port by a certain day and — depending on the nature of the cargo, which sailing it's going on and which community it's going to — those are all hard deadlines.
“We go to every community at least once, although some communities get two sailings a year and some three. If you're all the way in the Western Arctic in the Kitikmeot, or you're in the High Arctic, we only go once a year.
“Altogether, we have a fleet of 10 ships of varying sizes that make the journeys through the Canadian Arctic.
“The orders start off relatively slow each year and then really start to pick up as the deadline approaches for the first sailing. From there, it's a pretty steady pace throughout the season.”
