By NICK STEWART
A proposed transpolar route to fly Russian cargo over the North Pole onto Jack Garland’s 10,000-foot runway may allow North Bay to take advantage of new transportation trends.
Traditionally, Russian cargo is flown on an east-west basis, with cargo typically leaving Asian destinations and flying over Alaska to refuel before continuing into Canada or the United States. Developed in conjunction with Sault Ste. Marie, the new project proposes to instead fly Asian cargo over the North Pole and into North Bay, says Mayor Vic Fedeli. There, it would be unloaded into trucks and transported southwards into larger centres such as Toronto or Ottawa. The aircraft would then reload, refuel and return to its point of origin.
To help make the project a reality, a delegation of Russian officials were invited to visit both Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay from July 16-18.
Included among the delegates were the mayor of Bratsk, a city of 300,000 in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. The foreign town resembles North Bay in its desire to diversify its economy and take advantage of emerging transportation trends, says Fedeli.
“Bratsk is eager to do this, and it’s certainly within the realm of possibility,” he says.
“It’s an exciting opportunity.”
Whereas Sault Ste. Marie officials are looking to the project as a “future development” to provide access to Michigan and Illinois-based cargo traffic, North Bay is considering the matter to be a much more “immediate” project.
As one of four Ontario airports with a 10,000-foot runway -- the others being Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa -- North Bay’s Jack Garland airport is currently capable of handling aircraft of virtually any size, he says.
“The fact that we have this runway ready right now was not lost on the delegates, I feel.”
While Fedeli says the fuel savings involved in landing in North Bay would be such to entice businesses to land there rather than travel the extra distance to Toronto, no exact figures or savings are available.
The next step will require North Bay and Bratsk to seek a potential customer interested in making use of the proposed cargo route. Once an agreeable partner has been found, they will be asked to commit to a “test run” to determine the exact financial details and potential savings involved in transpolar transportation.
“Right now, it’s all theoretical. We’d like to be able to take that off theory and look for practical applications.”
Should the project ever come to fruition, millions of dollars would need to be spent to build warehouses and to rejuvenate now-idled fuel stations at Jack Garland. Other challenges include the need for federal governments delegates in Russia and Canada to sign treaties allowing transpolar travel. The Russian delegates met with Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield in Toronto on July 18, to ask for assistance in convincing federal representatives to make the transpolar project an issue during their upcoming federal government visit to Moscow.
However, while it remains a point of economic interest, the pursuit of potential clients is not something North Bay is aggressively pursuing. Instead, much of the legwork is being left to Bratsky officials, who are closer to the potential markets and customers and thus have a stronger level of influence, Fedeli says.
“It’s mission accomplished, as far as I’m concerned.”
