N.W.T. communities stocking up as winter road season winds down, and summer barges uncertain

Millions of litres of fuel, truckloads of construction supplies, and a year's worth of groceries have been travelling along the frozen Mackenzie River as communities in the N.W.T.'s Sahtu region prepare for the possibility of another summer with no barge deliveries.

The Mackenzie Valley Winter Road is expected to close sometime in the next week or so, capping off a season where it was relied upon as the primary supply artery for several N.W.T. communities.  

The territory has now faced two consecutive summers of historically low water levels. That prevented barges, usually the primary supply option, from travelling along the Mackenzie River to deliver supplies to communities that are otherwise inaccessible that time of year. Multiple barges were cancelled in 2023 and 2024.  

Joshua Earls runs Ramparts in Norman Wells, N.W.T., a grocery and rentals business, and says he has been working 18 hours a day to make sure his business is well-stocked for the next year.

"As soon as the winter road opens, go as hard and as fast as you can to get up all your materials and supplies," he said.  

Earls said the store has received its last delivery and now has everything needed for the next year.

"It felt a little dicey there for a bit because we weren't sure how the weather would hold up, but we had this cold spell here at mid-March," he said. "That really helped us out, helped out the whole region."

Earls said the past two years they have gone into the winter road season with the expectation that the barges wouldn't be able to arrive in the summer. That's meant planning in advance for what they'll need, and how they'll store all those products.  

"We had to get ready for a year's worth of supplies to bring up on this winter road in six weeks," he said.  

'You can only do so much'

Not all business owners have been able to get in all their supplies. 

Kevin Diebold runs Sahtu Building Supplies in Norman Wells and is a general contractor. He estimates about 70 per cent of his goods are in, and he hopes to get more before the winter road closes — but he expects about eight per cent of his supplies won't make it.  

That includes things like lumber, plywood, and other building supplies, as well as mechanical and electrical supplies — stuff that is too costly to fly in. 

"So a lot of these [building] projects, if you don't get enough material in, they'll be cancelled," he said. 

"It is what it is. We tried our best to please our customers and please the people who are here, right — but you can only do so much."

Diebold is hopeful that they'll see at least one barge in this summer, which would prevent some projects from being cancelled. But he stresses that this is just a hope, not an expectation. 

7 million litres of  fuel

It's not just businesses that have been trying to take advantage of the winter road season. 

The territorial government runs a fuel resupply program for communities that has also been forced to adapt because of the low water and cancelled barges.

Lorne Browne, director of the infrastructure department's fuel services division, said that in a normal year, the N.W.T. will deliver fuel by barge to Tulita and Fort Good Hope, and then fuel will be transported from there to Colville Lake and Délı̨nę. 

But now the fuel is travelling all the way from Enterprise, N.W.T. to each individual community. He says once that's done, the territory will have moved seven million litres of fuel into the Sahtu. 

"We have shipped in by road very high levels, large amounts of diesel fuel and gasoline. More than I think we've ever done before on a winter road, in fact," he said. 

Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake have been completely resupplied and Délı̨nę will be next, Browne said. He added that Tulita will be completed within the next 10 days. 

Norman Wells also being refueled 

Norman Wells Mayor Frank Pope said his town is also in the process of being refuelled.

"The resupply has gone far better than I anticipated," he said. "The weather has cooperated, has stayed cold, very few warm days."

He estimates they have currently brought in 75 per cent of their supply and that they expect to have it all by March 25.

Pope said they are bringing in "the works," including gasoline, aircraft fuel and heating fuel.

The community had been dealing with fuel shortages due to the lack of barges, as it relies on Imperial Oil for its fuel. Imperial Oil drastically increased the price of fuel after not ordering enough in previous winter road seasons.