View topic - Shipping by Barge to Norman Wells

Does anybody have any experience shipping canoes and gear to Norman Wells by barge?

I'm told that I would need to have somebody meet the barge in Norman Wells to accept receipt of the stuff. Is there an outfitter or somebody reliable in town that would perform that service for a fee?

Thanks

You could try Googling "Mountain River Outfitters" in Norman Wells.

-jmc

Thanks JMC. I had tried them already and their numbers is disconnected. Directory assistance has no listing for them as well.

Thanks anyways. I'll keep looking and if anybody else has any suggestions, I'm happy to listen.

I'm thinking you could call Black Feather http://www.blackfeather.com/index.htm
and ask them as they fly out of there for some of their trips. They could point you in the right direction.

Hugh

_________________
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
M Twai

We are doing the Keele, July 2011. Start and finish Norman Wells. We looked at a lot of options and are using http://canoenorthadventures.com/
They are a family company with a base in Norman Wells. Winter in Ontario. really nice people.
They seem to provide a lot of services. Give them a call.
Unless your going down the McKenzie you have the cost of getting the gear back to your base. Of course you sill have the cost of returning from Inuvik.
Good luck and keep this post going. There is a lot of us that would like to know how you make out.
stay safe
OAF

When in doubt, call the Northern Store, they will have a truck and quite likely have some goods coming in on the same barge. If they are not interested they probably know "the guy" who does this sort of stuff.

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"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915

Thanks everybody for your help.

Oldand Fat, thanks for the tip. I was not aware of CNA. They seem like they are exactly the type of contact I am looking for. I will call them.

Recped, I had forgotten about the Northern Store. Thanks for the reminder.

I'll report back to everybody with my findings.

Hi oldntired

Have you found a solution as we are in a similar situation of getting the heavier gear to Norman Wells.

Thanks for the reminder. I haven't finished my research yet so I was reluctant to post partial and perhaps misleading information.

Nevertheless, here is what I have found so far. Please remember it is all preliminary and none of this is confirmed:

There are two barge services that I know of. One is NTCL (I think that's the name). The other is Coopers. NTCL departs from Hay River, so you've got to get your stuff there and load it. Coopers departs from Fort Simpson. I have heard that if you hire Matco transportation, from Edmonton, they can arrange the transfer to the Coopers barge and receiving at Norman Wells. I have also heard that the Coopers barge goes more frequently.

Also, I have done some asking about air freight. Buffalo Air fly stuff into Norman Wells. Their prices may not be that much more than the barge depending on what you're moving.

Sort of.....I at least had a canoe shipped from Tuktoyaktuk UP the Mackenzie all the way to Hay River and then it was put on a semi truck and sent to Calgary......so a long ways!!!! It cost me $75.00 Canadian in 1998....cheap!!!!!
I arrainged the whole deal with Sharon Manderfield at Norman Wells with the company NTCL which runs the barges the entire way down and UP the Mackenzie....she was sooooooooooo helpful.....my guess she is still there...(why give up a good job?) Anyway....GOOGLE NTCL.....the company and then enquire about the barges.....MUCH Cheaper coming Back since they are empty than going UP.....
Hope that helps....
IF you get ahold of Sharon in NW....ask her if she remembers the solo kayaker paddling down the Mac she helped.
Good Luck

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 Norm Miller Livingston, Montana   Photographic collection from around the world:  http://normanmiller.zenfolio.com/   Wilderness Travels by Canoe blog: http://normanwmiller.blogspot.com/

Here is there rates AND PHONE NUMBER::::
give them a call
http://www.ntcl.com/about-us/our-routes.html

_________________
 Norm Miller Livingston, Montana   Photographic collection from around the world:  http://normanmiller.zenfolio.com/   Wilderness Travels by Canoe blog: http://normanwmiller.blogspot.com/

This is probably to late to be of any help but before we started using our pakboat, we shipped our Hard shell canoe up and down the Mackenzie River and to and from Victoria Island by barge for years. The barge was really cheap and we never had any problems with them.

We trucked a canoe once from Montreal and once from Toronto, to Hay River, them by Barge to Norman Wells. Check with various national trucking companies for rates. If they charge by weight, it is a lot cheaper than by Cubic meters. The only problem with the Barge Company is the they tend to have a lot of Strikes, and the schedule is dependant on Ice conditions on the lake and River.

We shipped our boat to North-wright Air, and they kept it in their barn over the years. Every year we did a diferent river and shipped the canoe back to Northwright Air or just paddled it back to Norman Wells. (Mountain, Natla/Keele, Bonnet Plume, Snake, Horton). We then started leaving the canoe at Arctic Chalet in Inuvic for the Horton, Anderson, Tomsen, Kugalic. Then shipped it to Cambridge Bay and back from Holman when we did the Kujua River. We had to ship it a year in advance to Cambridge bay, and we lucked out at Holman as the once a year barge showed up the week we were in town, otherwise it would have sat in Holman for a year!

We ended giving the canoe to Judy and Olaf(Arctic chalet) and now just mail our pak-boat to and from the various rivers we have done the past 10 years, alot easier, more reliable and convenient. Also it is a lot cheaper to fly a pak-boat inside a float plane then to tie a canoe on the floats.

Hi Joel.

Thanks for your response. This type of information is never too late.

Do you remember which barge company you used?

Thanks.

We used NTCL