Marine Transportation Services (MTS) has increased its cargo rate by 4.5 per cent ahead of the 2024 sailing season.
The change was announced in a March 14 news release from the GNWT’s Department of Infrastructure, which oversees MTS.
“These rates are adjusted annually and are based on changes to the Consumer Price Index (CPI),” the release reads. “The CPI represents the changes in prices as experienced by Canadian consumers and is measured by comparing, through time, the cost of a fixed basket of goods and services.”
Along with the rate change, the government department also announced the final dates MTS will accept freight for delivery to the communities it serves. The cutoff for 2024 will be June 15, by which point all goods intended for shipment must be at the main MTS terminal in Hay River. The lone exception is for shipments bound for Lutsel K’e, which will have an Aug. 1 cutoff.
The June 15 cargo deadline is earlier than previous years and is intended to “allow MTS to load its barges and be ready to sail earlier in the season when water levels will be higher on the Mackenzie River,” the news release explained.
The deadline for Lutsel’ Ke is later because the community is situated on Great Slave Lake, rather than the Mackenzie River, and “MTS does not anticipate that water levels on Great Slave Lake will impact its resupply efforts” for the community.
The 2023 sailing season was heavily impacted by low water levels on the Mackenzie, culminating with the final shipments bound for Tulita and Norman Wells being cancelled. The summer’s destructive wildfires also impacted shipping efforts.