Communication and Support to Navigation on the NWP 

(by Karl Magnus Eger)

Marine Communication and Traffic Services

The Canada Shipping Act, 2001 establishes a framework for SAR and communication operations in Canadian Arctic waters. The primary services provided in the Arctic are¹ :

• Monitoring international marine radio distress frequencies.
• Broadcasting ice and marine weather information, notices to shipping concerning hazards to navigation.
• Screening ships entering Arctic waters to enhance the safe and efficient movement of maritime transportation and prevent pollution.

The CCG operates two seasonal Marine Communication and Traffic Services (MCTS) centres one in Iqaluit and the other in Inuvik. The MCTS program provides marine safety communications and manages the movement of vessel traffic. Currently, MCTS are seasonal opening in the end of May and close in the end of November. In some areas of Canada, MCTS regulates the movement of commercial shipping through the mandatory participation of vessels in traffic control schemes. However, this is rather limited on the NWP. This means there is no single agency or Automatic Identification Systems that keeps up to date with vessel movements on the NWP, or is necessarily aware of all of the planned entries into those waters² .

A non-regulatory vessel traffic zone referred to as the Northern Traffic Reporting System (NORDREG) has been developed for the NWP. Under NORDREG, ships of 300 tons or more are encouraged to follow various reporting procedures including:

• The pre-entry provision of information about ice class.
• Amount of oil on board (fuel and cargo).
• Date of the Arctic Pollution Prevention Certificate if carried.
• Name of the classification society.
• An exit report is also urged.

Recently, the Canadian government announced plans to move NORDREG from the current encouraged reporting provisions to a mandatory reporting system for shipping entering Canadian Arctic waters³ . Certain politicians and policy makers are in favour of making reporting under NORDREG mandatory, not only to ensure safe navigation, but also in order to demonstrate Canadian sovereignty of the NWP (see chapter 1⁴ ).  However, CCG received reports of a total amount of 160 voyages in the Canadian Arctic last year. Even if the NORDREG is voluntary, ships regularly report their presence and positions in order to receive the benefit of services from the CCG (e.g., ice information, routing, icebreaker assistance etc.). According to CCG, between 98 and 99 % of the total amount of voyages reported their entering and exit in 2009³ . According to Transport Canada, approximately 95 percent of the total amount of voyages reported the same year⁵ . I.e. the different sources refer to various percentages. Interestingly, CCG gave the following statement:

” (…) it occurs that cruise ship with up to 200 passengers don’t report their entrance and/or position in the Canadian Arctic, because the NORDREG system doesn’t require so. This is a serious issue of concern in terms of safe navigation. For example, if any passenger vessel accident should occur, it is essential that the CCG are informed in order to prepare SAR³ .

This indicates, however, that the Canadian authorities do not have sufficient control of the current marine traffic movements on the NWP.

Aids to Navigation and Available Icebreakers

The CCG responds to air and maritime SAR incidents on the NWP. Rescue Centres are staffed by SAR coordinators which operate on a year round basis. For most of NWP, the Canadian Forces provide fixed- and rotary-wing SAR aircraft from Trenton (see Figure 5.4), while the CCG relies primarily on its helicopters and icebreakers⁶ . Regardless, there is a long distance from Trenton to the NWP, which means it would take a long time to provide any rescue operation by air transport.

There are very limited modern Aids to Navigation along the NWP. Unlike the southern Canada, for instance, the NWP does not have a DGPS available. There are some marine navigation aids on the NWP, maintained by the CCG, ranging from radar reflectors to buoys, lights, ranges and beacons. Most of these are for the benefit of community access, not for transits by deep draft vessels between the eastern and western NWP. The aids are generally being set out from June by icebreakers. Nonetheless, when the shipping season ends these aids are picked up and fixed aids deactivated as the icebreakers leave the NWP by the end of November⁷ . This means that there are very limited marine support and salvage capabilities from the end of November to the end of May. The satellite coverage is considered as adequate. Nevertheless, without base station reference points, the utility of GPS in close waters are limited. Position accuracy better than 30-100 meters, could not be expected along the NWP⁸ .

The Canadian Hydrographical Service estimates that about 20% of its marine navigation charts relate to the NWP, and only 10% of these actually meet modern standards compared with 60% of southern charts. If the NWP is to be used by deep draft vessels on a regular basis, then an adequate suite of up to date charts is essential for all routes. These do not exist at present, and safe navigation by foreign vessels will not take place unless there is confidence that a safe passage can be undertaken⁸ .

Figure 5.4: National Defence SAR

Regions⁶ 

Canada operates 21 icebreakers: 19 owned by the Canadian government and 2 by private firms. The CCG icebreakers are classified as heavy (2 vessels), medium (6 vessels), and light (11 vessels). Every summer, the CCG icebreakers are deployed to the NWP at the end of June. At present, 6 icebreakers are deployed (2 heavy, 3 medium and 1 light) to NWP operations. Anticipated longer active shipping season on the NWP raises a number of service level issues for the Government. One of them concerns the development of icebreaker services. The CCG is faced with an aging fleet and most of the ships date to the late 1970’s early 1980’s. However, the current Government has committed 720 million Canadian dollars for a new Polar Icebreaker which is likely to be launched by 2015. However, Canada will need more icebreaker capacity in order to meet the anticipated increased NWP activity⁷ .

Table 5.3: Canadian Icebreakers Available on the NWP during the Summer 

Season⁹ 

Karl Magnus Eger, 2010, Communication and Support to Navigation on the NWP, CHNL.©