There’s not too much to cheer about in Red Rock these days.
The community of 1,060, an hour’s drive east of Thunder Bay, has been without a major employer since Norampac closed its Kraft papermill in 2006.
Now local leaders are turning to its scenic waterfront with the prospects of new business floating to their doorstep.
The north shore of Lake Superior has always been a recreational boating mecca and the township is wading through a port assessment study to lure Great Lakes cruise ships and cargo ships into the deep waters of Red Rock and Nipigon Bay.
The township is making some headway after hiring a consultant to develop a waterfront strategy to find ways to attract investment.
A government-sponsored familiarization tour of tourism charter operators last year resulted in Red Rock being chosen by a Great Lakes cruise ship charter company as a scheduled port of call for the 2010 season.
The Clelia II is scheduled to make 10 stops this year at the North Shore community beginning June 24. With as many as 100 passengers disembarking with each visit, plans are being made for day excursions to Ouimet Canyon, First Nation festivities in Nipigon and a barbecue at the legendary Quebec Lodge.
“We’ll gladly take them,” said Mayor Gary Nelson. “We’re going to wine and dine them.”
Since the marina is too shallow to handle large vessels, cruise ships have to anchor in the deeper waters of Red Rock-Nipigon Bay and bring passengers ashore by tender boat, said marina project manager Gerald Sarrasin.
The township was waiting this spring to receive ISPS (International Ship and Port Facility Security) certification from Transport Canada. But there is bigger potential for an abandoned commercial wharf at the Norampac mill to be used as a dock for James Bay - Ring of Fire minerals to be shipped out.
The dock was once used by freighters to bring in coal and haul out newsprint until those cargoes were switched to rail. The decking is gone, but the B.C. fir pilings remain in good shape. The municipality would like to fix it up to accommodate large ships.
“The thought is because of the Ring of Fire, Red Rock just might be an opportune place to ship chromite as a port,” said Sarrasin. “It’s ideal.”
The community is serviced by Canadian Pacific Railway with a spur running onto the mill property. The dock’s revival has the support of Joe Comuzzi, a former Thunder Bay-Superior North MP, who is now the Canadian chairman of the International Joint Commission.
“He wants badly to see that dock put back in,” said Nelson.
The closed mill was bought by American businessman Robert Van Patten in 2007 but the plans to build a flooring plant have been slow to come together. Nelson believes Van Patten has no plans for the old wharf and wouldn’t hesitate to sell it to the township.
The waterfront has long been identified as a community strength with the marina having gone through two phases of development.
The municipality has expanded it to 80 slips and lured some boaters from Thunder Bay who have been displaced by the massive waterfront revitalization project going on there.
The township is also awaiting word on their government funding applications to build a 4,000-square-foot marina centre with showers, laundromat, meeting room, coffee shop and other amenities for transient boaters and community events like its folk music festival.
“It takes time with (government) grants and you can’t nail the taxpayer in town for something like that,” said Nelson. “We’ve got no industry here and a lot of elderly people.”
