As a 42-year resident of Churchill, MB, I’ve read several decades-worth of various opinions of the Port of Churchill and the condition of the rail line. Here are some points I want to challenge, and in some cases, expand on and into perspective..1) The Port of Churchill should be dropped as an asset, even if it was quite costly nearly 100 years ago. Churchill can handle “Panamax”-sized vessels..2) The rail line supplies local communities with everyday goods to survive and thrive, but is incapable of sustained heavy traffic..3) The Churchill Port needs to ship year-round to be considered useful and profitable..4) The Arctic will never be able to handle year-round traffic due to ice..In today’s dollars, the Port of Churchill would conservatively cost us $2 billion dollars..It is a solid, usable asset, and can handle grain and other commodities for a five-month season, including general international container traffic..But for Port Churchill to be viable, there needs to be other traffic along its rail line that partners with a separate Western Hudson egress system, for other Western Canadian commodities.. Wally DaudrichCapt. Wally Daudrich .Western bitumen, for example, used for building roads, can be readily exported via sea containers out of the Port of Churchill. This oilsands product can be exported to Western Europe and beyond where it is needed for road building and upkeep..Potash, a high-demand fertilizer, along with the aforementioned commodities, can be transported via Port Churchill simultaneously..The Port of Churchill was essentially built as a 19th century facility. Describing ships as Panamax sounds big, but it is medium-sized compared to main route shipping capacities. It’s what the old Panama Canal use to handle before it was enlarged. Churchill was built around the time of the original Panama Canal..Think back to the timber-framed ships that once traded across oceans — those that hauled beaver pelts to Europe and tinkers’ goods back to North America. Their haven of safety or port usually meant they were protected from wind and waves, able to take on supplies and fresh water dockside, as well as allow the crew to have some shore time. Sleeping on board usually meant cramped and smelly quarters and old rotten food..It was good to get off the ship. Not much changed for ports since 2,000 years ago in the Roman era when the Apostle Paul sailed aboard a commercial wooden vessel from the eastern Mediterranean Sea towards Rome to stand trial, and his subsequent shipwreck of this smaller wooden vessel..There is an argument to make for Churchill as a stand-alone port on the western side of Hudson Bay. But the justification requires additional commodities on the line to create the investment capital needed on the less robust section of rail north of Gillam, MB. A section of rail, which became a second choice after the original Port Nelson, was dropped by politicians during the First World War..The “softer” section of track, which goes overland and some areas of frozen bog, has seen significant upgrade with much needed addition of ballast rock. This level of upgrade has not occurred since the 1950s..There are sections of track just outside of Churchill where the rail bed is only 12-in above grade — hardly a rail bed, where very little is needed to bring it up to Canadian railroad standards..Federal ownership through the 1900s and a disinterested eastern political class eventually led to the degradation of the port to a point where it was offloaded to a foreign owner, leading to some subsidized capital improvements but generally to a further degradation of portions of the rail and port assets..The rail line from Saskatchewan to Gillam/Fox Lake is in good condition. Much of it is built over bedrock. Could the rail line see the installation of cement ties and welded rail line to deal with track expansion on hot days along with the much-needed ballast rock?.Yes! But to help the Northern Manitoba Rail line be profitable, one needs additional egress to blue water. To be clear, not all egress needs or should occur at Port Churchill. As a captain on Hudson Bay with decades-long experience, I believe becoming acquainted with the undersea topography is as important to sound navigation as is above-water knowledge..I have also navigated the Churchill and Nelson River coastal area by boat as well as by float plane and helicopter. Both with soundings and underwater cameras, the subsurface of the sea on its western shore needs to be as well-known as the Hudson Bay itself..Meanwhile, the original planned location for Western Canadian grain was an old-style Port Nelson..The quaint 19th century port layout appears whimsical when viewed through the lens of the original engineer’s hand-drawn nautical charts of the area from the early 1900s..The Nelson River is aptly described as an estuary, but Manitoba does not need another estuary to create a new port. Searching for modern nautical opportunities, we should look at how the rest of the world moves bulk commodities safely, efficiently and strategically. When looking at undersea topography of the western Hudson Bay, it’s good to consider river estuaries as irrelevant. Yes I said it correctly, irrelevant..Largely made of clay and gravel, the Nelson River shoreline angle of incline dictates how modern shipping can be incorporated in that area. Another important item to note is a counterclockwise current inside the Hudson Bay..Salt water moves from the North pushing the Nelson river current towards the south. Today's larger ships, often staffed by the large V-ship Company which manages much of the commodity movement vessels of the world are typically drafting from 60 ft to 80 ft. An LNG or crude oil pipeline would be buried for about two nautical miles on the low tide foreshore flats (exposed seabed at low tide), then buried under the clay and gravel or laid in a trough of this ocean bottom to a point of about five nautical miles offshore. There, an anchored floating access point or man-made island would provide a single point fueling station to the anchored vessel to be laden..As a freshwater river, the Port of Churchill is limited in its season. A 12-month season inside the river will not work where there is a freshwater river inflow into the estuary. On the other hand, the Hudson Bay is a saltwater body with a stream of salt water funneled into it from its northern straight, Aukkarnirjuaq, which is bordered by Baffin Island to the North and the mainland of Nunavut on the south side..Further, sea ice is not an accurate term to describe what floats on Arctic waters. What we commonly call ice is actually congealed snow. Referred to as “pack ice”,,it's there because of the winter “snowpack.” During the cold weather months, the snow which falls into the ocean water takes on the consistency of a slushy soda drink. Like the sugars in the drink, ocean salts prevent the liquid water from freezing completely. It is the same for “sea ice.” The salts and minerals in sea water prevent hard ice from forming..Hudson Bay accumulates on average three to five feet of congealed snowpack. Of course, wind and tide cause the “ice” to move and pile up into ridges. Ridges and open water leads are normal in all the seasonal ice in the Arctic Ocean and including Hudson Bay. Glacier ice is accumulated land snow, compressed, and part of a stream of ice which gravity forces to sea level where it breaks and falls into the ocean..This ice is found in the Hudson Straight — much more significant in thickness, made from compressed snow. It's limited in scope, especially with modern navigation equipment. This type of ice moves slowly and can be tracked by satellite and on the water with radar..An LNG, or oil egress system, would be in theory supported by one ice-reinforced tugboat based at the offshore fueling point on Western Hudson Bay. An insurance certificate guaranteed by the Western provinces would be needed until Lloyd's of London would consider brokering an insurance agreement. Russia under Putin operate their export systems even further north and run the operation year-round..The problem with Russia is they want to kill people and break things with money provided to them by other countries. Some Canadian politicians, such as Trudeau, want to support Putin and the Russian oil machine. The fact is, Russia loves Trudeau and supports Trudeau when he tells Canadians man-made climate change is true, and that men can indeed get pregnant..A year-round operation of double hull tankers can easily keep a channel open for 12-months of shipping. A Nunavik mining company shipping in that region of Hudson Straight presently ships 12 months a year, 1,100 km from the proposed western Hudson Bay port..Importantly, the shipping route would take western Canadian select and LNG on tidal water to anywhere in the world. In addition, LNG can be compressed with 25% less energy in a northern environment at Hudson Bay. A west Hudson Route would be a similar distance as a Port of Montreal to Western Europe and would avoid the cost and maintenance of pipeline shipping overland across half a continent..In addition, no one ever accused Saskatchewan and Manitoba of being mountainous. An energy corridor has a great advantage of building and moving product across flat land as opposed to mountainous terrain..This leads to the other net benefit to Manitobans and all westerners: hydroelectricity..Under the previous NDP, multi-billion-dollar blunders like the Bipole III transmission line project placed Manitoba Hydro in a state of virtual bankruptcy by building the expensive Bipole III from Gillam (near the Hudson Bay) to the western side of Manitoba, and down the Saskatchewan border to southern Manitoba. Can the Manitoba Stefanson PC government ask Manitoba Hydro to re-designate Bipole III as the conduit of DC power to move further west into Saskatchewan and Alberta via an interprovincial energy corridor somewhere north of The Pas Manitoba? They have already signed two successful agreements of export power into Saskatchewan..If the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan were to cooperate with a western energy program exporting LNG and crude oil, as well as hydroelectric grid, Manitobans would benefit from a project with a price tag of more than $60 billion dollars, not including spin off construction, with the majority of that spent inside Manitoba’s land mass. Manitoba Hydro presently generates about 5,600 megawatts of hydro power. And it has another 4,000 megawatts of undeveloped generating capacity..The efficiencies of attaching to grids outside of our time zones has enormous benefits, vis-à-vis peak power needs happening at different times. Also, the efficiencies of being attached to the Western grid will allow us greater ability to generate and trade power with Alberta with a steady flow of water, rather than have the welfare state drain levels of the Sellinger NDP which caused chaos and environmental havoc in northern communities in past years..A Manitoba government could also put Bipole III into use by utilizing the east/west portion to transmit DC hydro power into an extended Western grid and transportation corridor. In addition to all these positive outcomes, First Peoples groups would benefit as they negotiate as owners of the port and in full knowledge of some of the disparities of the past government negotiations with the socialist party of Manitoba..All Manitobans would benefit from the payroll taxes, negotiated royalties and transit fees, and contractor work. Winnipeg, which has been gutted by the socialists of past reigns, could benefit with government joint-funding agreements for new and upgraded roads and freeways which presently, to Manitoba’s shame, don’t exist in this energ-rich province. Also, with a level of PPP investment, could they see a monorail or LRT system to replace many of the diesel buses currently plugging up city streets during rush hours? Surely Manitoba Hydro’s Centra Gas and it’s consumers would benefit from plentiful Natural Gas transiting through Manitoba..This is why I’m for Neestanan, all of us. Working together for a sustainable future for all Canadians..Capt. Wally Daudrich is a Churchill resident and businessman. He is also the candidate of record for the Conservative Party of Canada.
