Makkovik grocery store down to sugar and flour
A grocery store manager in Makkovik is fed up waiting for the first shipment of dry goods this year.
Carol Dyson of Big Land Grocery hasn't had any supplies delivered since last December.
Dyson says the store is down to some staples, including sugar, flour and canned milk.
"The only thing that's saved us is the fact that our freight was so late coming last fall," said Dyson.
The first shipment of the season from Lewisporte was delayed because the freighter (the Astron) was blocked by a ferry being moored where it usually loads.
The Astron instead went to Happy Valley-Goose Bay to pick up freight headed for the coast of Labrador.
Frustration over delays
In the meantime Dyson and her customers are frustrated because a shipment should have arrived by now.
It will take several days before the Astron gets back to Lewisporte and then the Bond should be out of the way.
"You see the Astron leave with nothing abroad," said Dyson. "That kind of browns everybody off."
Dyson is getting food in, but is limited by what Nutrition North (a subsidy program that aims to improve access to perishable healthy food in northern communities) will cover.
"We try to stick to that (the Nutrition North) because the rates are high for flying things in," said Dyson. "You can't bring in too much if you're expecting freight by boat and then you're stuck with the food you flew in."
She has complained to the government and Nunatsiavut Marine, but with no results so far.