The Desgagnés fleet who travel to the Far North each summer are delivering much-needed supplies that communities depend on to survive—anything from food to furnaces to fire trucks.

And accounting for each and every item being delivered to hundreds of individuals across multiple communities isn't their only challenge. Most of their destinations in the Arctic do not have loading docks, which means the cargo ships need to be totally self-sufficient to get the goods directly onto the beach. The ships are equipped with cranes and the rest of the heavy equipment is brought along onboard to be assembled as soon as the ship drops anchor and the Chief Mate gives the green light. It's a precise process.

"We start unloading the tugboat first, after that, the small barge. After that, we'll put the big loaders with the ramps and the tug will push the barge up to the beach with the high tide," explains Olivier Nault, Captain of the Taïga Desgagnés.

The crew must unload all of the cargo, disassemble the ramps and get all of the equipment back to the ship before low tide. If there's even one crate remaining when the tide drops, they've got to be patient and wait until the next high tide. Otherwise, the barge and tug could get trapped in the mud.